A new state law should better protect student athletes at Upper Cumberland High Schools and the fans who support them.
Governor Bill Lee’s Smart Heart Act requires all schools across to maintain AEDs during the school day and during all athletic activities. AED stands for Automated External Defibrillators which are used if someone is suffering cardiac arrest. Livingston Academy Athletic Director Lesley Riddle said the new law will ensure the safety of students.
“It seems like every other day you hear about somebody passing away from an athletic event or a field trip or something at a school and an AED wasn’t available or someone didn’t know how to use it or something like that,” Riddle said. “So I think its gonna make everyone feel a little more secure even if they do know they have a little bit of a health problem, you know that they feel like somebody can take care of them when they get there.”
Upperman Athletic Director Ross Fanning said Upperman has AEDs on campus and requires athletic trainers to have one at all times during practices and events.
“We already have that in place here at Upperman,” Fanning said. “We have them located in the school during the school day, and then we have them located at every facility that we use for athletics.”
Terry Craine is the system wide Athletic Director at White County Schools. Craine said the spectator portion will be as much of part of the training as anything.
“Everyone thinks, you know automatically thinks about the athletes,” Craine said. “But we also train our coaches to be prepared for spectators and the fans, you know you can have an emergency from one of the fans in the stands.”
Most schools in the Upper Cumberland provide training courses on AEDs and various other safety procedures to faculty and non-faculty staff members. Training courses are offered during the the summer before the upcoming school year. Riddle is also the CTE Director, Federal Programs Director, and the Girls High School Basketball Coach at Livingston Academy. Riddle says they have plans to do more than just be within guidelines of the law.
“Every single building has one, at least one, so we are in compliance with the law and everybody is trained so we are in compliance with that part of the law,” riddle said. “we are just trying to go over and above in Overton County to add those portable ones which is easier access and we can get to people, to a student athlete, or a parent or fan more quickly if something were to arise.”
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