Thanks to AED and CPR Training, Tennessee Trainer Saves Player’s Life

Athletic trainer Colton Jenkins watched as Gatlinburg-Pittman (Tennessee) High School girls basketball player Kendl Reagan exited the court, stumbled and dropped to the gym floor at a game on Monday, January 23. Jenkins sprang into action. He rushed to Reagan’s side to determine that the student-athlete had gone into a “cardiac incident.” His CPR and AED training took over, and he worked with the assisting school nurse and the visiting athletic trainer to stabilize the teen while waiting on the EMS to arrive.

“Once we established that something was seriously wrong with her and things needed to be escalated, the training that I’ve been through took over,” Jenkins said. “I feel like my thoughts and emotions were pushed aside temporarily until the immediate danger was taken care of and until I felt like my athlete was safely in the hands of EMS. Everything really hit home once she was taken to the hospital.”

Jenkins’s split-second action, access to AED equipment and his training on the device saved Reagan’s life that evening.

AED usage made headlines earlier this year when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed in the middle of an NFL game and was saved by quick actions of medical personnel and the use of an AED. News rocked the nation in February when a referee collapsed during a girls basketball game in Argyle, New York, between Argyle- Fort Edward High School and Whitehall High School. Thanks to a visiting EMT from Whitehall, a nurse from Argyle and an AED located about 20 seconds away in the school hallway, the official’s life was saved.

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), which occurs when the heart unexpectedly stops beating and pumping blood, is the leading cause of death in the United States for student-athletes during exercise. The NFHS offers a free online course through its Learning Center (www.NFHSLearn.com) which offers information on the warning signs and symptoms of SCA and what to do if a student collapses, including use of an AED.

Statistics also show that AED access and training drastically improves chances of survival for individuals experiencing SCA. According to the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association (SCAA), if a SCA victim receives defibrillation through an AED within the first minute, there is a 90 percent chance of survival. When used in the first five minutes, AEDs offer a survival rate of 30-50.

For every minute that passes without defibrillation, chances of survival decrease by seven to ten percent, according to the SCAA. The limited window of timing makes it essential to have both an AED device easily accessible and one or more fully trained operators present to quickly administer the defibrillation.

State legislation to require AED placement in schools is gaining traction across the country. Twenty states plus the District of Columbia have these AED mandates, according to a 2022 review by the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation.

In the hope that more schools – like the aforementioned ones in Texas and Tennessee – will have access to AEDs, the NFHS has been involved in providing units to schools during the past five years. In 2018 and 2019 alone, through the NFHS Foundation, about 1,200 AEDs were distributed to NFHS member state associations and schools in those states.

“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. State associations and schools receiving AEDs received a rescue kit, alarmed wall cabinet, carrying case and adult and pediatric pads. The distribution also included instructional videos regarding AED operation, maintenance and replacement.

Jenkins thinks about his student-athlete’s mid-game collapse almost every day and has determined that he wouldn’t have done anything differently. He knows that the Sevier County School System’s proactive plan and training was essential to mitigate the chaos in the moment.

“Tomorrow is not promised, let alone how it is going to turn out. Always have a plan in place in case that ‘it can’t happen here’ scenario hits,” Jenkins said. “When you have a plan, know your part and practice it. Never underestimate training and mental repetition, because if you have not mentally made up your mind that you will do a hard task like CPR, you might freeze when it becomes reality.”