The pregame “60-minute meeting” among medical teams and NFL officials was vital to the response when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed during Monday night’s game, NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allan Sills said.
“If you ask me, the 60-minute meeting is the most important thing we do on Sundays,” Sills told CNN on Wednesday.
“It happens one hour before kickoff… and it involves everyone on the medical care team from both teams. So the team physicians, the athletic trainers, our independent personnel, which are our unaffiliated neurotrauma consultants, our airway doctors, our visiting team medical liaisons, the paramedics, the ambulance crew and the referee. That whole crew of people gets together one hour before the game, and they review that emergency action plan, they talk specifically about locations of emergency equipment, who’s going to lead if we have a cardiac arrest, how the chain of command will go,” he explained.
“Fans don’t ever see that meeting. It happens underneath the stands,” Sills said. “It’s part of the reason why, in this tragic moment on Monday night, we could have a quick, effective and really transformational response.”
Sills said that the main focus now is on treating Hamlin but that his medical team will continue to search for answers, including possible causes like commotio cordis and myocarditis.
“Many times in these cases, players don’t necessarily have a preexisting history or a preexisting abnormality, and cardiac arrest can occur without any warning,” he said.
Sills also said questions of safety are relevant to him as a parent of four and grandfather of nine.
“I let my children and my grandchildren play sports because I think there are tremendous benefits. But what I want to know as a parent is: is that sports league prepared? Do they have an emergency action plan? Do they have bystanders or people who are trained in emergency procedures? Do they have a defibrillator present? To me, those are the key questions, and I also want to make sure the league or the team they’re associated with promotes an atmosphere of safety,” he said.
