Turner Athletic Department Receives AED

Dr. Janet Trethewey, the Cardiac Ready Communities Manager with the Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS), visited Turner on September 28 to share strategies with emergency response personnel representing Blaine County 2 Ambulance (Big Flat) for the use of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs). She also shared statistics on Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) in young athletes.

"Seventy-five percent of all fatalities during sports are cardiovascular related," Trethewey told those gathered. "A Sudden Cardiac Arrest is survivable if we recognize what it is and we have the tools to manage it."

One of those tools is an AED; the other is awareness. Although it is statistically improbable, four SCA events in high school age athletes occurred in Montana in 2021. Living in the communities of Townsend, Kalispell, Missoula, and Park City, all but one of these athletes survived.

According to Trethewey, who served for approximately seven years as an Athletic Trainer at MSU-Northern before coming to work for the DPHHS, schools and communities should have an up-to-date Emergency Preparedness Plan. This plan should include proper training for personnel so that identification of an SCA is understood. If an athlete suddenly collapses without being hit, is unresponsive, gasping, and exhibiting seizure-like activity, coaches and athletic trainers should treat the event as an SCA.

"Assume a sudden collapsed athlete is an SCA until proven otherwise," Trethewey said. "If you treat for asthma or seizure first, you're losing valuable time, and death is more likely."

When asked why young, fit people are experiencing these events and whether energy drinks might be contributing to their more recent prevalence, Trethewey explained that the risk factor does seem to be exercise and the quick starts and stops that accompany aggressive movement. "We just don't have a large enough N (population size) to say at this point. Thankfully, this isn't happening often enough for us to get the research statistics we need, but research is ongoing."

Steve Leitner, Ambulance Service Director and Senior Crew Chief with Big Flat Ambulance Service, conducted the AED presentation. He explained that last fall ambulance personnel attended a training in Chinook where Tretheway gave a similar talk. "It got us thinking that there aren't always AEDs readily available in the schools our athletes play in and visit. Sometimes the gym is locked or blocked off from the rest of the school where an AED may be available. This glaring deficiency in AED coverage is what started us thinking about how we could help fix the issue for athletes on both sides as well as for the fans. We came up with the idea of a traveling AED that can be taken by coaches to each athletic event our school attends."

The AED donated to the Turner School Athletic department was purchased with the help of a grant from Northwest Farm Credit Services and funds from Big Flat Ambulance service. In addition to the purchase of an AED, Blaine 2 also purchased a trainer that American Heart Association certified trainers will use to train coaches and high school students alike.

"On behalf of the Big Flat Ambulance Service, I would like to present the Turner School Athletic Department with a traveling AED and the hope that it won't be needed but the promise that it will always be there," Leitner concluded.