And Another Thing...

Peter Martell ISI Executive Director

Keeping Our Business Alive ...

O

ur ISI News recently carried two stories about separate incidents in the same metropolitan area

within the same week where adult hockey players suffered cardiac arrest at the rink. In both cases, the men survived due to prompt and professional response by the arena staff – with the assistance of an AED or Automated External Defibrillator. Tom Morton’s article (Page 6) details

another incident where a teenage hockey player who suffered a heart attack during a game died despite the efforts of others to administer CPR. In this case, apparently there was an AED located on an adjacent wall but, unfortunately, none of the arena

staff were aware of its presence or trained in how to use it. As Mr. Morton points out, the dissenting judge expressed a strong opinion “on the failure of the ice rink facility to have an emergency plan to disseminate information concerning the location and availability of whatever emergency equipment may have been present at the ice rink (whether an AED or other equipment) in the face of high- risk activity resulting in injury.” These three incidents and their

differing responses and results illustrate both the probability of life-threatening incidents and the importance of lifesaving equipment and training in places of public assembly – including ice arenas. While most facilities have always provided some form of basic first aid for staff and patrons, not all have provided professional training or equipment for their employees to enhance the quality of aid and, potentially, offer lifesaving assistance when needed. A recent article by Michael Phillips in the Wall Street Journal highlights a new White House initiative “to make tourniquets as commonplace as AEDs in U.S. schools, stadiums, airports, malls and other places of public assembly.” According to

the report, “the military discovered in Iraq and Afghanistan that uncontrolled bleeding presented a far more lethal risk (than the possibility of nerve damage or permanent damage to an arm or leg), and that a patient could wear tourniquets for hours without losing limbs.” According to Dr. Alexander Eastman,

a trauma surgeon and lieutenant in the Dallas Police Department, “51 of 78 major city police agencies have or are equipping officers with hemorrhage-control kits. In Dallas alone, police have saved 15 people in the past 20 months with tourniquets.” In Rochester, Minn., Te Mayo Clinic

provides tourniquet education to farmers at the annual agricultural show. Considering that ice arenas are places of public assembly where patrons “wear knives on their feet” and that there are documented accounts of severe wounds causing arterial bleeding to both hockey players and skaters, perhaps hemorrhage control kits should be added to the list of essentials for every ice arena along with annual staff training on the proper use and storage of such kits. After all, keeping our customers alive can only be good for business!

WIN A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOLARSHIP! Application Deadline is September 1

The ISIA Education Foundation program encourages ISI members to acquire higher education and/or professional development to benefit them in their lifelong pursuits both on and off the ice.

NEW this year, the Foundation is offering one-year Professional Development scholarships ($500 each) to current members of ISI for eligible programs that enhance their industry knowledge, including, but not limited to, training programs, certification programs and industry conferences. (Scholarship cannot be applied to tuition and registration fees for ISI training and certifications; however, related travel fees are eligible.)

For details and to receive a scholarship application, go to the Education Foundation section of the ISI website: skateisi.org or call (972) 735-8800.

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ISI EDGE SPRING 2016

New!