The Green Bay Packers are donating $100,000 to be used toward providing Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) and expanding access to CPR and AED training, the team announced Wednesday. The money will go toward schools and recreational sports leagues in need of the equipment and training in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
The donation comes in response to Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s on-field cardiac arrest during a Jan. 2 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bills’ training and medical staff’s quick intervention is widely credited with helping save the 24-year-old’s life.
“After seeing Damar Hamlin’s shocking cardiac arrest and witnessing the incredible response from the emergency personnel and medical professionals who treated him, we recognized our responsibility to take action in our own community,” Packers President Mark Murphy said in a statement. “Damar’s injury also reminds us that cardiac emergencies are experienced each day throughout the country and our region.”
Hamlin has since made a remarkable recovery, after spending several days in the intensive care unit at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. He was discharged from the hospital on Jan. 11 to continue convalescing at home in Buffalo, and Bills head coach Sean McDermott told reporters Wednesday that Hamlin has been making trips to the team facility “almost daily” after first reuniting with teammates there on Jan. 14 before Buffalo’s wild-card round win over the Miami Dolphins.
The Packers’ donation is meant to cover the cost of 80 AEDs. Wisconsin healthcare provider Bellin Health will provide training on the use of the AEDs, as well as CPR training, which will be mandatory for the organizations who receive the equipment.
The Packers and Bellin Health also plan to offer a large-scale public training opportunity at Lambeau Field during the offseason and are attempting to spread awareness of Hands-Only CPR training, a basic level of CPR that can be learned by people without advanced medical training or experience.
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