Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) have introduced legislation to reauthorize the Automated Defibrillators in Adam’s Memory (ADAM) Act to establish a national clearing house that would aid school systems seeking to set up public defibrillation programs. The two senators fought for the enactment of the original legislation that was signed into law in 2003.
“We must ensure that our high schools have access to the equipment and training they need to prevent sudden cardiac deaths, which can occur during athletic competitions and other school events. Reauthorization of the ADAM Act is crucial if we are to continue working toward our goal of decreasing the number of deaths related to cardiac arrest,” said Collins. “Through the reenactment and funding of this critical initiative we can give schools across the country the tools required to save lives.”
“Several years ago during a Milwaukee-area high school basketball game, Adam Lemel, a 17-year-old high school student and star athlete, suddenly collapsed from cardiac arrest and tragically passed away before paramedics could arrive. Congress needs to reauthorize the ADAM Act, named in his honor, to help bring AEDs to schools in order to ensure future victims of cardiac arrest have a fighting chance,” Feingold said.
Every year an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 children in the United States die of sudden cardiac arrest. In many cases neither the child nor his/her parents have any knowledge of a pre-existing medical condition and often no symptoms are exhibited prior to the child’s death. These unforeseen emergencies necessitate that schools have defibrillators in place and are trained to respond immediately in such an event. The ADAM Act would help to facilitate both the acquisition of the required equipment and the training in its usage. Additionally, the program would assists schools with technical guidance, fund-raising techniques, and other logistics required to successfully prepare for these situations.
After Adam Lemel suffered his cardiac arrest, his friend David Ellis joined forces with Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin to initiate Project ADAM to bring CPR training and public access defibrillation into schools, educate communities about preventing sudden cardiac deaths and save lives. Today, Project ADAM has been a model for AED education programs across the country.