New California law to extend SCA protocol to youth sports organizations

Existing California laws that are designed to protect the head will soon add requirements to protect the heart. Assembly Bill 379, which was recently approved by Gov. Gavin Newsom, will prohibit youth athletes at all levels statewide who have "passed out or fainted" during athletic activity from returning without clearance from a licensed healthcare provider. The bill unanimously passed and will go into effect in January. Additionally, it will require coaches, administrators, referees and other game officials to undergo educational training courses on Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA), which according to the authors of the bill, is the "No. 1 killer of student-athletes and contributes to the No. 2 medical cause of death among youth under 25". The bill was co-sponsored by the California Athletic Trainers Association and the Eric Paredes Save A Life Foundation and championed by Assemblymember Brian Maienschein, D-San Diego. Diana Li, Co-Executive Director of the Paredes organization, said that AB 379 extends efforts of the mission of AB 1639 – the Eric Paredes Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act. Approved in 2016, AB 1639 aimed to raise awareness of SCA along with setting SCA protocol within California public, charter and private schools, Li said. Sudden Cardiac Arrest, according to the American Heart Association, "occurs when the heart's electrical system abruptly malfunctions and the heart suddenly stops beating normally". It differs from a heart attack, however, where blood flow is restricted from reaching the heart's chambers. "This bill (AB 379) requires the same protocol as concussions for SCA, but not only in the high school level, but now expanded to the youth level club sports, YMCA, any kind of youth sports organizations," Li said. Some local youth athletic organizations don't seem to mind the additional training requirements. "Anything that helps to protect athletes and keeps our sport afloat, I'm all for," said Lincoln Jr. Zebras Peewee football coach Bob Pierce. "There have been big strides made in concussion protocols and athlete safety as a whole." Li said that the bill's co-sources worked with the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the state's governing body for high school athletics, to help shape the language of the bill. The CIF has had concussion and SCA protocol in place within its bylaws since 2014, according to CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Assistant Commissioner Will DeBoard. "We require coaches to be educated on SCA," DeBoard said. "The one we added this year was heat exhaustion, recognizing the signs. But the CIF, in terms of concussions and SCA, we've had a lot of those rules in place for a while now." Under AB 2007, also approved in 2016, youth sports organizations were required to provide training for coaches on how to handle young athletes who were suspected of suffering concussions. The new law now requires similar training for managing SCA conditions. Parents and athletes will also receive educational materials each year on the warning signs of SCA. Additionally, if the healthcare provider suspects that the athlete has a cardiac condition or other heart-related issues, the athlete will remain under the care of the healthcare provider for follow-up testing until the athlete is cleared to play, the bill says. According to the Paredes Foundation, an estimated one in 300 teenagers are at risk of SCA and less than 10% of SCA victims survive because "bystanders are not prepared or are unwilling to take action in the event of a cardiac emergency". Two of these instances occurred in Elk Grove. On March 4, 2005, Elk Grove High School senior Chris Marshall collapsed while playing basketball in a physical education class and passed away due to complications with SCA shortly after. In January of 2016, 12-year-old Aaron Nguyen fell unconscious during basketball practice at Joseph Kerr Middle School and was unable to be revived. Mark Beard is the principal of Stone Lake Elementary, where Nguyen attended before reaching Joseph Kerr Middle. "Any time you are entrusted with kids and their lives, there's not any amount of work too much to make sure they will be safe," Beard said. "Coaches and referees completing prevention training courses and getting more educated is definitely needed along with all of us understanding the warning signs of SCA." Li said that she couldn't imagine what any drawbacks could be of setting this law into motion. "If you take a look at how many kids participate in school-age sports, it's in the millions," Li said. "Everyone will be in a position to be an emergency responder should a situation arise. It's not an anomaly. It doesn't only happen in a blue moon. It's happening everywhere."