After Tragic Death at Normandy Athletic Association, Life-Saving Equipment Now Available
Jacksonville, Florida, September 16, 2008 -- When 12-year-old Rashad Wallace collapsed and died on the football field during practice at Normandy Athletic Association (NAA) on August 2, his team members, coaches, parents and the entire community were devastated.
Wolfson Children's Hospital Nursing Administrator Kristy Goff, RN, whose eight-year-old son Tyler was practicing on a nearby field that day, didn't realize anything was happening until she saw an ambulance arrive. "Another mom and I realized they were doing CPR on a kid and things didn't look good," she remembers. "Later that day, I found out that the little boy didn't make it. I stayed up all night really upset about it."
The next morning at church, Goff talked to Tyler's coach, Scott Simmons, who is a radiation therapist. "We discussed forming a response team at the park for these kinds of emergencies," says Goff. "We have several nurses who are Moms and Dads, along with EMTs and other health care professionals."
Although Wallace's cause of death has not been released, the Normandy Athletic Association members agreed to purchase an automated external defibrillator (AED) to possibly prevent future tragedies due to sudden cardiac arrest in children or adults. An AED is a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses potentially life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias and treats the individual through defibrillation, the application of electrical therapy which stops the arrhythmia. Even laypeople can use it because of how simple it is to operate.
"The park asked me if I could help them get a discount on an AED, so I sent out an e-mail to my director, Cyndy Jackman, at Wolfson Children's Hospital, and Alice Bayne, nurse educator, to request their help. Steve Ulbricht, administrative director of the Children's Heart Center, was one of many at Wolfson who responded to that one e-mail asking what they could do to help and Steve gave me contact information for Dave Magruder, president of Life Safety Solutions, a distributor of AEDs," remembers Goff.
"As soon as I heard the story, I said, 'We need to help!'" says Magruder. "I contacted Mike Castleman, Southeast regional manager of Cardiac Science, and he agreed to donate the AED in memory of Rashad Wallace and his family on behalf of Cardiac Science and Life Safety Solutions."
"I live in Jacksonville and I saw media stories about the death of this little boy," says Castleman. "I am a father of five, and his story really touched my heart."
"We pray the AED never has to be used, but if it is needed, it's there," says Magruder, who provided training for the coaches and response team on the AED.
Cardiac Science and Life Safety Solutions weren't the only ones to offer their help. Chaplains with Pastoral Care at Wolfson Children's Hospital offered bereavement support for team members and families, and educators with Baptist Health, Shands Jacksonville and other local organizations offered to donate CPR training to coaches who needed it.
In the meantime, the Normandy Athletic Association has pulled together their response team, which will soon go through a trial process so they can be ready if the time comes when a child, or even a parent or spectator, needs help.
"We've got horns so that, if something happens that is life-threatening, we can alert the response team," says Certified Nurse Assistant Shannon Cone, team mom for the Normandy Peewee Cowboys, Wallace's team. "We will call 911 and perform CPR and whatever else the child, parent or spectator needs until Rescue arrives."
"Once we get this program established at our park, we hope to bring it to other parks in the area," says Goff.
She says she is grateful to everyone who helped in this effort to prevent a future tragedy at their athletic park, and is especially proud of the people she works with at Wolfson Children's Hospital. "I have always known that Wolfson was full of very special, amazing people with huge hearts and this has just re-confirmed it," says Goff.
