Pittsburgh takes critical safety step after Bill’s Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest

Damar Hamlin feels lucky to be alive and surrounded by loved ones after suffering a terrible tragedy during week 17 of the 2017 season when the Buffalo Bills played the Cincinnati Bengals. The outcome might have been significantly worse had the medical staff not acted so quickly to get to Hamlin on the field and begin CPR. Pittsburgh Football has hired experts to teach CPR to the entire team following the tragic incident involving Damar Hamlin.

ICYMI, @ ESPNRittenberg and I spoke to Pat Narduzzi today about In Play @accnetwork. We asked him if, after what happened to Pitt’s own Damar Hamlin, if he could bring in medical professionals to provide CPR training for the entire team. pic.twitter.com/nEGn2JbmWA

— Andrea Adelson (@aadelsonESPN) February 14, 2023

Of course, Damar Hamlin is a Pitt Panthers football alum. In four years of college football with the Panthers (2016-2020), he had 275 tackles, 6 interceptions and 10 sacks.

The Pittsburgh football program has made a fantastic decision that other football teams and just other football teams, but also non-sports groups and people should follow. Someone familiar with CPR should always be on hand as medical situations like Hamlin’s can arise at any time.

Emily Niespodzianny, vice president and executive director of the American Heart Association, said in a recent statement, “In the case of Damar Hamlin, he was surrounded by a medical team almost immediately, but unfortunately that is not always the case for the average person.”

After a solid season, the University of Pittsburgh Panthers finished 9-4 to win the Sun Bowl. It was Pitt Football’s first bowl win since 2019 and the program’s second under head coach Pat Narduzzi’s tenure.