Safer Sidelines: Here are the main findings from The Courier Journal's investigation.

When Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into sudden cardiac arrest during a Monday Night Football game in January, viewers nationwide watched as athletic trainers and doctors saved his life.

It was an eye-opening experience for many. In reality, though, it’s a scenario that has played out hundreds of times on high school playing and practice fields across the U.S.

And, unlike Hamlin’s story, most of these don’t have a happy ending.

In “Safer Sidelines,” a four-part series based on several months of reporting, The Courier Journal’s Stephanie Kuzydym uncovered the many ways high schools, athletic associations and lawmakers have failed to prepare for the worst-case scenario ― sudden death in sports.

Featuring a first-of-its-kind searchable database of U.S. athlete deaths and information for Kentucky parents and athletes to see if their school is prepared, this project was produced in partnership with the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s 2022 Data Fellowship.

Click here to read the full series.

The project is available for Courier Journal subscribers, so if you still need to sign up for a subscription, you can go to this link first.

Here are some of the main findings from Safer Sidelines:

States aren't adopting 'gold standards' of care for high school athletes

The sports medicine "gold standards" are meant to protect young athletes from harm and potentially save a life. They include having athletic trainers on staff, having automated external defibrillators (AEDs) at sports venues, having specific emergency plans for each of those venues, cold-water immersion tubs that can overcome heat stroke and wet bulb globe temperature monitors to give more detailed heat readings. No state requires all of them. Just five states require four of them.

Bills proposed to require sideline safety are often defeated or watered down

This has happened across the nation, with cost being the most-common reason not to mandate life-saving equipment for high school sports sidelines. The most recent legislation passed in Kentucky is an example of this trend. What started as a bill to require AEDs at sports venues was weakened until it was only a recommendation for middle and high schools to have them in their buildings ― as funds become available.

The cost of 'gold standard' equipment is a tiny fraction of what schools are spending on sports

The Courier Journal's data shows the average high school in Kentucky could add an AED, cold tub and wet bulb globe temperature monitor (which gives a more accurate heat reading than more-common thermometers) to sidelines for a few dollars per sports participant.

Laws that are in effect for sideline safety have no enforcement and are often ignored

States that do have laws or policies to protect high school athletes ― and most states have some ― often lack enforcement, and as The Courier Journal found in Kentucky, regularly go unheeded. For instance, Safer Sidelines reveals the number of coaches across the state who have let their CPR certification (a requirement) lapse. Meanwhile, about 170 coaches re-upped their certification only after The Courier Journal requested proof of its existence.

Many schools aren't following Kentucky's emergency planning law

Kentucky is one of 37 states that requires schools to have emergency action plans for each specific athletic venue. A review of the plans found routine failure by most public schools in the state to follow all aspects of the law.

Safer Sidelines: Protections for high school athletes are being ignored. Kids are dying as a result.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Main findings from The Courier Journal's Safer Sidelines investigation