LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — When you go to a football game, you are often busy with the excitement surrounding it. However, there is a lot of prep that goes behind the scenes to keep players safe.
On Monday night during the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals game, emergency medical services rushed onto the field after Bills safety, Damar Hamlin, collapsed during the game.
“Tens of millions of people just witnessed what sudden cardiac arrest looks like,” Glen Simpson, the director of Community Ambulance said.
His team is contracted with the Las Vegas Raiders to be present at all home games.
“Being able to watch that really kind of checked the boxes for a lot of emergency procedures we go through that with train on an annual basis with the NFL,” Simpson said.
Simpson watched the Monday night game as this is a scenario they always prepare for.
“The nerves really run through you because that moment could be any moment any time a player goes down you never know what that may be,” Simpson said.
Simpson told 8 News Now that before kickoff they gather with both teams to go over safety plans.
“The emergency action plan went as planned that night,” he said.
Simpson described to 8 News Now what would happen if a player collapsed on the field.
“Part of what will initially happen to the player is going to be hooked up to the cardiac monitor that will tell us what rhythm the athlete is in that will make determinations if the patient is in a shockable rhythm,” Simpson said.
Before Hamlin was taken off the field by an ambulance, news outlets on the scene reported he was given CPR on site for several minutes.
“In most situations where you have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest people don’t survive so it is our message to people is that bystander CPR saves lives,” Simpson said.
Some have noted the ambulance was on the field in Cincinnati for some time before taking Hamlin away. Simpson said ideally the patient will be stable before putting them in a moving vehicle.
To sign up for a CPR class here are a few places in the valley that offer them.