HEARTS Act spurred by Hamlin passes Senate

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The impact of Damar Hamlin suffering cardiac arrest during “Monday Night Football” in January 2023 was felt worldwide.

Now, the awareness that Hamlin’s scare brought has led to new legislation aimed at improving access to resources for heart health around the country.

On Tuesday, the United States Senate voted unanimously to pass the HEARTS Act, a bill that among other things will help put automated external defibrillators in schools and make CPR training more accessible. The bill now just needs to be signed by the president to become law.

The Cardiomyopathy Health Education, Awareness, Research and Training in Schools Act is a bipartisan bill that Hamlin worked on with New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and was passed by the House of Representatives in September.

Hamlin has dedicated significant time with his foundation, Chasing M’s, and the American Heart Association to bring awareness of the importance of learning CPR and having accessible AEDs to different communities. The use of CPR and AEDs helped save Hamlin’s life on the field in Cincinnati.

“I believe that every single one of them deserve the same kind of care that I had,” Hamlin said Monday at an event with Schumer announcing plans to bring the bill to the Senate floor. “As far as kids growing up who want to chase their dreams and want to pursue anything that they want to do. And we have a chance to be impacting the next generation. We got a chance to make history.”

The bill would create a grant program at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to support CPR and AED training in elementary and secondary schools with the purchase of AEDs, funding AED and CPR training, and the development of cardiac emergency response plans.

Children who experience cardiac arrest in schools with AEDs are seven times more likely to survive compared to children in schools without AEDs, according to a study by the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. If performed immediately, CPR can double or triple the chances of survival from an outside-the-hospital cardiac arrest, per the American Heart Association.

The Bills and the NFL have both shown their support for the bill. The Smart Health Sports Coalition — created by the NFL in the wake of Hamlin’s cardiac arrest, which includes a variety of sports and other organizations such as the American Heart Association — has also advocated for policies in all 50 states to help prevent deaths from sudden cardiac arrest.