'Do you want to hurt him or save him?' JCPS coaches get life-saving training
A clicking noise held a steady tempo.
The sound filtered through the small gym at Fern Creek High School as coaches, both new and veteran, were trained in first-aid response, including how to do CPR and how to use an automated external defibrillator or AED.
An automated voice cut through the air.
"Do not touch the patient. Analyzing heart rhythm," the voice from the AED said. "Shock advised. Press the flashing shock button."
David Henley, Eastern High School boy's basketball coach, reached his right pointer finger toward the red button without hesitation and pushed.
"Shock delivered," the voice said. "Begin CPR."
The 27-year coach has been trained about 13 times on how to provide CPR and use an AED. The Kentucky High Schools Athletic Association requires all high school coaches to complete the training every two years.
"You hope you never have to do it," Henley said. "But it's good to know."
The training was part of Jefferson County Public Schools' annual fall clinic, which reviewed topics like mental health, nutrition and first-aid training.
The training comes two weeks after Carson Dickey, a middle school football player in nearby Nelson County, collapsed. The coaches started CPR and called 9-1-1 and the high school athletic trainer, who ran to the middle school to apply an AED and deliver a shock. The quick and precise response by the coaches and athletic trainer saved 13-year-old Carson's life.
"The important thing to know from that, is coaches immediately started CPR," said Kevin Brown, the sports medicine director that oversees all KORT athletic trainers in Kentucky and hosted the training. "That immediate CPR was crucial to helping him survive."
During five hour-long sessions across two days, eight KORT staff trained at least 165 coaches in sports ranging from archery and cheer to softball and wrestling.
The coaches kneeled over a dummy chest, fingers intertwined, the heel of their hand pushing into the chest delivering compressions until they heard a click.
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They pushed to the rhythm 30 times, delivered two mock breaths, then returned to giving compressions, delivering four sets of compressions as a green, orange or red light on the shoulder of the dummy indicated if their compressions were delivered deep enough and in rhythm.
Dylan Garcia, an assistant coach at Fairdale High School, had only seen CPR done in the movies, so he was nervous to deliver compressions that might hurt whoever collapsed.
When Garcia knelt on the gym floor, he softly hummed Chris Stapleton's "Tennessee Whiskey" as he began compressions on the plastic dummy, hoping the melody would calm his nerves and not cause him to push too forcefully.
"Without compressions, this athlete is dead," former Pleasure Ridge Park athletic trainer Beth Shoulders said. "Do you want to hurt him or save him?"
Garcia kept humming but understood his job was to practice this now because he knew a real situation would be harder.
"Right now it's just a dummy," Garcia said after two minutes of giving compressions. "There's nothing on the line, but in a real situation, you'd need to respond and get to work."
Malayia Little, Ballard's cheer coach, had never done CPR or AED training before either.
"Now I can use this in everyday life," she said.
They realized how critical the skills are during the clinic's opening session, which included a story about Matthew Mangine Jr., a Northern Kentucky high school soccer player who collapsed in June 2020 during conditioning.
Mangine's coaches never retrieved an AED, according to court documents, and no shock was delivered until EMS arrived, more than 12 minutes after the 16 year old collapsed.
JCPS athletic director April Brooks included what happened to Matthew after she heard his father, Matthew Mangine Sr., speak at a public forum hosted by the Courier Journal regarding sudden death in high school athletes. The Courier Journal hosted the forum to engage the community after publishing Safer Sidelines, a monthslong investigation into health care on high school sidelines that uncovered the need for stronger emergency response plans and lack of life-saving devices across Kentucky's high schools.
"We wanted to make sure that our coaches and our athletic directors know how impactful it is on the life of a child (to know these skills)," Brooks said about the CPR and AED training. "That family lost their child."
The Mangine's loss has turned into saves most will never know about. That's because the family pushed for specific language to be included in House Bill 331, which calls for AEDs in schools. The Mangine's addition to the law was to require that schools host simulated sudden cardiac arrest drills.
"We have kids in schools practice for fire drills and tornados," Mangine Sr. said. "Why not sudden cardiac arrest?"
Sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in high school athletes. Mangine Sr. and his wife Kim co-founded the Matthew Mangine Jr. "One Shot" Foundation. Mangine Sr. was one of the panelists at the forum and Brooks was able to meet him after.
"I was almost in tears because as an athletic director and as a mother to know we practice these things and then to find out it didn’t happen for somebody," Brooks said. "It tore me up. I’m thankful (Mangine) is making it more of a priority and more of an awareness in our community."
Stephanie Kuzydym is an enterprise sports reporter, with a focus on the health and safety of athletes. She can be reached at skuzydym@courier-journal.com. Follow her for updates on Twitter at @stephkuzy.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Jefferson County Public Schools' CPR, AED training for coaches
