Damar Hamlin feels fortunate to be alive and surrounded by loved ones after sustaining a terrifying tragedy in Week 17 of the 2017 season when the Buffalo Bills played the Cincinnati Bengals. The outcome may have been considerably worse if the medical staff hadn’t acted so quickly to get to Hamlin on the field and begin CPR. Pittsburgh football has hired experts to teach CPR to the whole squad in the wake of the tragic Damar Hamlin incident.
ICYMI, @ESPNRittenberg and I spoke to Pat Narduzzi on In Play today @accnetwork. We asked him about bringing in medical professionals to give CPR training to the entire team after what happened to Pitt’s very own Damar Hamlin. pic.twitter.com/nEGn2JbmWA
— Andrea Adelson (@aadelsonESPN) February 14, 2023
Naturally, Damar Hamlin is a Pitt Panthers football alum. In four years of collegiate football with the Panthers (2016-2020), he had 275 tackles, 6 interceptions, and 10 sacks.
Pittsburgh’s football program has made a fantastic decision that should be followed by other football teams and only by other football teams, but also by non-athletic groups and people. Someone who understands CPR should always be on hand, since medical situations like the one Hamlin encountered may happen at any moment.
Vice President and Executive Director of the American Heart Association Emily Niespodzianny recently stated in a statement, “In Damar Hamlin’s case, he was surrounded by a medical team almost immediately, but unfortunately that’s not always the case for the average person,”
After a solid season, the Panthers of the University of Pittsburgh football team ended 9-4 and won the Sun Bowl. It was the first bowl victory for Pitt football since 2019 and the program’s second under the tenure of head coach Pat Narduzzi.
