It’s a soccer Saturday morning at Sprague Field in Wellesley, a wholesome and healthy vision of Americana, featuring swarms of sweaty young athletes and sidelines populated by cheering parents, grandparents and siblings.
It would be easy in this idyllic setting, standing in cool Autumn air with mid-morning sun on your shoulders, to feel insulated from the grim possibilities of life. With so much going right, what could possibly go wrong? Cardiac arrests, heart attacks and life-threatening arrhythmias are remote threats, until a kid is clutching her chest.
Soon, Wellesley’s sports fields will be equipped to respond to cardiac emergencies. Two Automated External Defibrillators, portable devices designed to shock hearts back into normal rhythm, should be installed in coming months. Then coaches and others will be trained to use them.
“I think, sadly, it’s not something that people become aware of until it’s something that affects them,” said Katie Stewart, a nurse practitioner specializing in cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital. As a mom with young athletes, she knows the dangers. More than 350,000 cardiac arrests happen outside a hospital each year. Of those, 90% are fatal, according to a report by the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, a national non-profit group focused on eliminating preventable deaths. Approximately four out of every 10 sudden cardiac arrests in children are sports related.
Stewart knows the statistics too well. She runs the Cardiovascular Performance Program with a team of physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital, is the advocacy chair for the Massachusetts chapter of the American College of Cardiology and a member of the American College of Cardiology Sports and Exercise Council.
“Sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in youth sports. It can strike healthy kids with no warning on the field at practice or even on the sidelines,” she said. “We know that every minute without CPR and AED reduces the survival chances by 10%, so after about 10 minutes survival is almost zero. But with immediate CPR and AED, survival rates can triple.”
Wellesley Health Department Director Lenny Izzo provided an update at a Board of Health meeting earlier in September. “Fire has put the purchase through, so we’re just waiting for the devices to be delivered,” he said, adding that AEDs are available at town buildings. He said two AEDs will be installed at Sprague and Hunnewell fields, followed by more in the future.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition that results in the thickening of walls in the heart’s main pumping chamber, is often asymptomatic, according to a fact sheet from the National Institutes of Health. Emergencies can be triggered by strenuous physical activity.
A 2018 NIH study estimated 18,000 Americans have shockable cardiac arrests in public each year, and about 1,700 lives are saved by AEDs.
“Wellesley has always been a leader in education in youth development, and public health,” Stewart said. “I think this is another chance to lead by making our athletic fields not just places for play, but also places of safety.”
Wellesley Fire Department Lieutenant Paul Delaney said the portable defibrillators will include a label with picture-based instructions, and simple audio directions are available in English and Spanish, so the device can be used by most people.
One major benefit of AEDs is this: the equipment is available 24/7.
“If AEDs are available in our community, and our community is trained to use them, we’re not just protecting the student athletes, we’re also protecting the parents, the coaches and the grandparents who are spectators on those fields,” Stewart said.
Wellesley United Soccer Club Intown Director Joe Morais said he’s always worried about children playing sports without nearby AEDs. He oversees the pre-K through third-grade program, and professionally coaches three club teams that play games at Elm Bank Reservation.
Despite being trained on how to use the devices, Morais said his teams have not had access to portable AEDs.
“It [will be] like a huge relief having one,” he said. “Before you start coaching every season you have to take like a safety sport course. It’s always terrifying going through because you’re like, ‘Oh, this could really happen one day.’”
AED training can be completed in as little as 30 minutes. Many Wellesley police officers carry the portable defibrillators in their patrol cars.
“It’s rare to find an AED on a field like this,” said Wellesley Youth Field Hockey coach and parent Jonathan Gerbode-Grant, a nurse practitioner specializing in cardiology. He said he rarely considers the risk of playing sports without access to the devices. “Would it make me feel more comfortable, sure. Especially because adults and kids are around. We don’t know if anyone has a pre-existing health condition.”
This story was produced in partnership with the Boston University Department of Journalism.
