Act takes aim at preparing for cardiac arrest in schools

Gov. Wes Moore (D) last month signed legislation that ensures that Maryland schools have a plan in place to address cardiac emergencies.

The Bailey Bullock Act, named for a 16-year-old Maryland boy who died outside his school following track practice in May 2021, requires every public and nonpublic school in Maryland to create a cardiac emergency response plan, the American Heart Association said in a release.

“More than 23,000 children suffer cardiac arrest annually, and almost 40% of those occur in conjunction with a sports-related activity,” said Laura Hale, the American Heart Association’s Maryland director of government affairs.

Each year, more than 350,000 cardiac arrests happen outside a hospital setting.

CPR, especially if performed immediately, can double or even triple the chance of surviving cardiac arrest. When Bailey suffered a sudden cardiac arrest outside his school, CPR was delayed for at least 8 minutes, the American Heart Association’s release says.

“Bailey did not have a positive outcome, and that’s something I never want another parent, another mother, to experience,” Patrice Bullock said. “Maryland has taken a significant step toward that reality with the signing of the Bailey Bullock Act.”

Southern Maryland News contacted all three school systems in the tri-county area to hear their plans to comply with the law or if they have already complied with it.

Melissa Evans, the administrative assistant to Maureen Montgomery, the deputy superintendent of St. Mary’s County Public Schools, replied on Montgomery’s behalf to detail the system’s cardiac plan.

Evans said that each school in the system has at least one automated external defibrillator (AED) on site and a minimum of two St. Mary’s public school staff members are trained in CPR, first aid and AED operation at each school.

All athletic coaches are trained in CPR/first aid/AED operation and the system maintains certification from the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems as a Public Automated External Defibrillator Program Facility.

The registry of public AEDs helps allow the option to have the AED location made available to 911 dispatch to guide callers to its location during an emergency and provides support to organizations who register their AED machines through maintenance emails, expiration alerts and recall alerts, according to the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems.

The St. Mary’s school system also maintains a partnership with the county’s emergency services to help align efforts.

Answering for Calvert County Public Schools, Kevin Hook, the director of transportation and athletics, said, “At this time, Calvert County Public Schools is reviewing our current procedures to see if any modifications can be made, in order to improve our cardiac response on school property.”

Hook said that the system currently has several teachers, administrators and athletic trainers at each school who are trained in CPR and AED. All of the system’s coaches take the Sudden Cardiac Arrest refresher class every season.

Sara K. Taylor, a communications specialist with the Charles public school system, said, “Charles County Public Schools has automated external defibrillators and staff trained to use the devices in all its schools.”

In each school in Charles County, there are at least two staff members who are trained to use the AED device should the need arise. The school system has staff and programs in place and is ready to comply with the new legislation and will continue to update and build on training in the future, Taylor said.

With the governor’s signature, the new law will go into effect July 1.