2016 Highlights

that, “During the academic school year 2014-15, there were 55 cases of cardiac arrest among [student athletes], and 57 percent died. I can’t believe we don’t have universal access to A.E.D.s in schools; they should be like fire extinguishers.”

The decision to invest in A.E.D.s and training several years ago was good planning, says RISD communications director Tim Clark.

A.E.D.s have been used as an emergency response on at least five occasions that he can recall. And most importantly, “we have never lost anyone as a result of cardiac arrest, at least in the 15 years I have been around.”

Nurse Whitehead recalls that two years ago in February, “I remember because it was American Heart Month, a trainer with a portable A.E.D. saved a Richardson High School football player who collapsed after practice.”

Remarkably, it was just two weeks prior to Joe Krejci’s near-death experience that an equally dramatic incident unfolded at Wallace Elementary, less than a half-mile away from the LHJH track.