OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — For former Husker and Green Bay Packer Steve Warren, watching something like what happened to Damar Hamlin Monday night in Cincinnati is hard.
"I can't imagine how any of those guys would have been able to play again (that night)," Warren said. "Thank God ... the NFL is so equipped with medical staff being there ... it was definitely, probably the difference between life and death for him."
But he says it shines a light on something that could use some attention: Emergency medical preparedness at all levels of sports.
"It's a dangerous game we play," Warren said. "We have to have people in place that know what they're doing."
Warren says he's seen that medical professionals and ambulances aren't always on site for games, outside of the NFL and major college football.
"I think there has to be a conversation that mandates that ... people are in place in case of a serious injury," he said.
He runs the Warren Academy, which works with kids as young as nine, and he's coached in high school. Warren was a defensive lineman at Nebraska in the late '90s and is a Nebraska Football Hall of Fame member. He was a third-round draft pick to the Packers.
"It does become difficult for smaller organizations or leagues to have somebody there all the time,"
"Having trained professionals that have done this, that's obviously a great thing," said William Nester, a cardiologist at Methodist.
But he said you don't need to be a professional to save lives.
"That's the biggest thing I want to stress with this: Any person can do CPR," Nester said. "The first point of contact is (usually) not going to be a trained health care professional." He said 70-80% of cardiac arrests occur outside a hospital.
The Nebraska School Activities Association has addressed emergency medical condition preparedness in many ways over the years, said Ron Higdon, an assistant director who oversees sports medicine among other duties.
He said the NSAA made sure every school had an AED through a cardiac task force nine years ago. They worked with a company that provided grants to help pay for them. They worked with schools and provided resources to develop emergency action plans.
He said ambulances at all events are not feasible, and medical professionals are not required to be on site. But he said most larger schools have a trained medical professional on staff and smaller schools often work with local clinics.
But the NSAA requires all coaches, including volunteers, to take courses every three years on sudden cardiac arrest, concussions and heat illness prevention.
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