Our son, Michael, passed away while playing Organized Youth Roller Hockey. Because of this we have a vested interest in seeing these two bills, A3500 and S1973 passed. These two bills state that any organized Youth Athletic events that take place on a Public field, ie a School, or Recreation Department property need to have AED's present within a 3 minute window and a designated person who is trained in CPR and AED use be at all events. It also states that students grades 6-12 be trained in CPR and AED use.

We would ask that all New Jersey Residents, please, sign our Petition here so we can send these to Trenton and see this passed.

Through our Foundation we have provided through donation AED's to the Dennis Twp Youth Hockey Association and the Middle Twp Youth Hockey Association. By passing these 2 Bills all Organized Youth Sports would be required to have AED's on hand for all practices and games. While we never hope to have to use these AED's on anyone, do we really want our children's life to be lost because a relativly cheap device wasn't available?

"According to Mark S. Link, MD, The Tufts Cardiovascular Center:
Public access to defibrillation and emergency action programs are a critical component to sports programs and too often are not taken seriously enough. Emergency action programs encompass not only cardiac events, but trauma, asthma, and any other kind of medical emergency. Relying on public emergency programs (ie, emergency medical system) is unlikely to improve resuscitation because athletic facilities are often distant from public roads. Data supporting AEDs and early action programs comes from casinos, airlines, and cities. Yet data to support that AED and emergency action programs will have an appreciable effect on resuscitation in athletes are currently limited to retrospective data. Early data demonstrated a very poor survival of National Collegiate Athletic Association athletes in which only 1 of 9 athletes was resuscitated. It is not clear how advanced the emergency action programs were at those schools. However, it appears that survival is improving, both in athletes and nonathletes. Essential elements of a emergency action plan include training and certification of athletic trainers and sports participants (a minimum of basic life support and AEDs). Other essential components include prompt access to AEDs, an institutional plan of how to activate the emergency medical system quickly, integration of the on-site responders and emergency medical system, and finally practice and review of the response plan. One could argue that knowledge of how to perform basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation and to operate an AED is a critical component of school health requirements. All individuals, especially those involved in competitive athletics, should know the basics of resuscitation. It is likely that recognition of SCD and prompt activation of the emergency medical response by all students and athletes would increase the survival rate in SCD."
See the full article here