The County Press

Through Support of NFHS Foundation, 600 AEDs Sent to High Schools, State Associations



INDIANAPOLIS, IN — The ongoing effort by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), through the NFHS Foundation, to equip schools with Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) took a significant step forward in January with a shipment of more than 600 AEDs to high schools and state high school associations.

Similar to the initial distribution of more than 400 AEDs in February 2018, state associations were able to request AEDs for schools without the lifesaving units. The most recent response resulted in the NFHS Foundation awarding more than 600 Phillips Onsite AEDs to schools and state association offices in 24 states.

The mission of the NFHS Foundation is to serve the interests of young people who participate in interscholastic sports and activities by funding research and program development in the areas of character education, leadership and sports risk minimization.

“No endeavor has been more important and required more resources than our AED project,” said Davis Whitfield, NFHS chief operating officer and president of the NFHS Foundation. “The AED project, in addition to other research opportunities, provides resources that help our states and their member schools develop policies and procedures to address the ongoing health and safety concerns in sports and activities, as well as saves lives should a catastrophic event occur during a practice or game.”

State associations and schools receiving AEDs also receive a rescue kit, alarmed wall cabinet and a carrying case to allow the AED to be transported beyond the school setting. Accompanying the AED is a two-inch adult pad and a pediatric pad for individuals weighing 55 pounds or less.

To help schools educate students and staff members on the AED, three video tutorials have been provided on an enclosed thumb drive regarding the AED’s ease of operation, maintenance, and battery and pad replacement.

“The distribution of AEDs to schools across our nation was something easy for me to support because of Hawaii’s first-hand experiences in saving lives with the use of an AED,” said Christopher Chun, chair of the NFHS Foundation Board of Directors and executive director of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association (HHSAA). “I am pleased to have been a part of this mission the past four years to ensure that every NFHS member school has these life-saving devices. This will positively impact the whole community of education-based athletics – student-athletes, coaches, supporters and administrators alike.”

In addition to providing all member schools an AED, the NFHS Foundation is working to address other areas of concern. Whitfield said those include, but are not limited to, research being conducted in areas such as return-tolearn concussion protocol, guarding against overuse injuries in upper extremities, and protection against knee injuries by establishing a baseline protocol.

The plan for having an AED in every high school in the NFHS member state associations was among the goals developed in the 2016- 2021 NFHS Strategic Plan. The continued advocacy for the AEDs was also included in the 2018-19 NFHS Board of Directors goals as part of promoting risk minimization. Through its funding, the NFHS Foundation has awarded in excess of $1 million in grants since its founding in 1996.

How our area schools stack up

Locally, all eight of our area’s athletic directors were asked about AEDs in their respective schools, and of the five that responded prior to our press deadline, none received AEDs through the NFHS this year, though they all mentioned they have multiple AEDs throughout their districts already in place.

LakeVille currently has six AEDs located around the high school and a minimum of four in the middle school, with multiple AEDs that are taken to practices and events, according to athletic director Drew Johnson.

For Mayville, athletic director Mark Cooper noted the school has one for each building, plus one that goes to outside events.

Ross Gauthier of Almont mentioned there are two AEDs in the high school, two in the middle school and one in the elementary school, along with one kept on a golf cart during fall and winter sports seasons.

At Imlay City, Don Gauthier said his school has one outside of the gym, weight room and locker rooms, along with two traveling AEDs for the outside facilities, located at the football/track complex and the soccer/baseball/ softball/tennis complex.

North Branch most recently received an AED through the Thomas Smith Memorial Foundation that was donated to the school in 2017, according to Jeff Drayton, Director of Operations & Technology at North Branch. AEDs located in the district include one in the transportation and bus garage building, two in Quest High School, four in North Branch High School, three in the middle school and three in the elementary.

Sportswriter Austin VanDaele contributed to this article.