In a press release from the Office of the Governor:
SPRINGFIELD – Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today signed legislation requiring outdoor football stadiums, soccer fields, baseball fields and other outdoor facilities to have an automated external defibrillator (AED) on hand to help save lives in the event of a medical emergency. House Bill 1279, sponsored by State Representative Daniel J. Burke (D-Chicago) and State Senator Martin A. Sandoval (D-Cicero), adds outdoor physical fitness and sports facilities to the list of facilities currently required to have defibrillators.
The bill is known as the R.A.W. Initiative, named after Northwestern University football player Rashidi Wheeler who died during practice in 2001. It was determined that if an AED had been onsite, Wheeler’s life could have been saved.
“The death of Rashidi Wheeler was a devastating loss for his family, the community and Northwestern University, and it could have been prevented with a defibrillator. By making defibrillators available at athletic and sporting facilities, we hope to save lives in the future and prevent these kinds of tragedies from happening,” said Gov. Blagojevich.
The bill was championed by Sean Wieber, a former Northwestern University football star and a recent high honors graduate at Chicago-Kent law school. Wieber, currently an associate at Winston Strawn, LLP, was the starting free safety on Northwestern’s 2000 Big Ten Championship football team, and a teammate of Rashidi Wheeler’s. Wheeler died in Wieber’s arms on the practice field on August 3, 2001. The bill grew out of a law school class in legislative advocacy and is the only suggested bill in the history of the class to have been enacted into law.
“Governor Blagojevich’s signing of HB 1279 shows that elected officials throughout Illinois understand the importance of protecting Illinois’ citizens by making AED’s readily available in areas where they can have an immediate impact. I am grateful not only to Gov. Blagojevich, but to the General Assembly, especially Representative Dan Burke, for supporting this initiative. I strongly believe that this new law will save lives, and its mandate–when compared to other states’ laws–puts Illinois in the forefront of AED implementation,” said Sean Wieber.
“Rashidi is smiling from Heaven today! The strength of character demonstrated by Sean Wieber, serves as a testament that the power of love, respect and determination, when accompanied with a desire to do the highest good, is the best recipe for what we, Rashidi’s family, see as a modern day miracle. Sean’s actions, and the signing of House Bill 1279, ensures that his friend’s tragic loss of life is not in vain and ensures that other students and their families will have the opportunity to pursue their dreams in a far safer environment. There are no words to express our gratitude, we are so humbled and comforted in knowing that people like Sean Wieber, still exist in today’s society,” said Linda Will, Rashidi Wheeler’s mother.
When taking action on HB 1279, the Governor used his power of amendatory veto (AV) to change part of the legislation. At the request of the American Red Cross and the American Heart Association, and with full support of the bill’s sponsors, the Governor AV’d the bill to ensure all indoor and outdoor park district facilities are covered by the law. As written, the legislation would have exempted outdoor facilities from the obligation to have AED’s on hand. Rep. Burke will file a motion to accept the AV, from which point he and Senate sponsor Martin Sandoval will work their leadership to schedule a vote to accept the AV, thus enacting the law.
“Defibrillators save lives. Having more defibrillators will save more lives. We’re grateful to the Governor for his support on this bill and we are particularly grateful for the change he recommends in his amendatory veto. We hope that this bill can indeed become law in the near future with the General Assembly’s concurrence,” said Mark Peysakhovich, Senior Director of Advocacy, American Heart Association.
“This law will greatly increase the availability of Automated External Defibrillators, which will help save lives,” said Fran Maher, CEO of the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago.
The defibrillator must be stored in an accessible building within 300 feet of the outdoor facility and the building’s entrances must have signs with directions to the AED. If there is not a building within 300 feet, the supervisor of the activity must make sure a defibrillator is available during the event or activity. Physical fitness facilities that are owned or operated by the forest preserve district or conservation district, such as hiking trails in nature preserves, are exempt.
The new law also requires any indoor or outdoor physical fitness facility to ensure a trained AED user is present during all physical fitness activities. Currently the law only requires facilities to have a trained AED user on staff. The Illinois Department of Public Health will adopt rules to encourage coaches, instructors and any other anticipated defibrillator operators to be trained as AED users.
Last summer Gov. Blagojevich signed legislation amending the Emergency Medical Services Systems Act and the Good Samaritan Act so that any person, acting in good faith, who provides emergency medical care involving the use of an AED is not liable for civil damages. This legislation makes it easier for people to provide emergency medical care, and help save lives without fear of retribution.
Every privately owned outdoor physical fitness facility must comply with this bill by July 1, 2009.
Public entities that own four or fewer outdoor physical fitness facilities must comply by:
* July 1, 2009 for the first facility
* July 1, 2010 for the second facility
* July 1, 2011 for the third facility
* July 1, 2012 for the fourth facilityPublic entities that own more than four outdoor physical fitness facilities must comply by:
* July 1, 2009 for 25% of those facilities
* July 1, 2010 for 50% of those facilities
* July 1, 2011 for 75% of those facilities
* July 1, 2012 for 100% of those facilitiesHB 1279 becomes effective upon acceptance by the General Assembly of the Governor’s amendatory veto.
How does this legislation impact your agency? Are you prepared to have AEDs at all your indoor and outdoor facilities? Are you prepared to have trained AED users?
Speak out. We want to hear from you on this issue.
I am curious if this will also apply to any of the state universities?
While I fully appreciate the intent and the emotional strings attached to this legislation, this is yet another mandate by the state which I fully expect will be expected to be funded through our own local budgets without any assistance from the state or feds. The cost is one thing, the requirement to have a trained person on site for every soccer, baseball or flag football program throughout an entire parks system is quite another.
It will be interesting to see how “outdoor facilities” will be interpreted. However, by the text within this report it would seem that every park with athletic fields will need to have one on site. I don’t know about others but many of our fields have no buildings around to house this equipment. Where are we going to put them, secure them, etc?
The intent and rationale for the need is true and commendable, the reality to implement it is unfair and again more burden for agencies to adhere with the limited resources available and capped.
What is the definition of “outdoor physical fitness facility”? Does IPRA or IAPD plan on offering workshops on this topic much like was done with GASB 34?
The intent behind this bill is noble. However, clarification on where these items are to be stored so they are readily available for those that need them, yet free from destruction should follow. Accordingly, where is the funding for these costly devices expected to be levied and more urgently so that question applies to government organizations that are tax exempt? It is understandable that the majority of sports interaction occurs on park district and school district property, but will these organizations with fixed budgets be expected to generate their own revenues for AED’s and their designated holding areas? There is no dispute that the goal of the bill is honorable. However, subsections to the bill that outline a plan for government funded organizations would be accommodating and supportive in implementing this new policy.
I offer the following concern in addition to those concerns and issues already presented. It is apparent that the associated costs of implementing this unfunded mandate will impact program fees, especially to ensure that a trained AED user is present during all activities, most of which are youth activities. However, In order to continue to keep programs affordable, one logical yet unpreferred course of action would be to train our volunteers. Many of us know how difficult it is to attract quality volunteers these days. Yet, we continually add more and more responsibilities on to them to keep program fees affordable. My concern is that this will only further discourage well intentioned individuals from volunteering, consequently resulting in increased fees and decreased participation. One of our goals should be to encourage participation in programs to promote healthy lifestyles to prevent life impacting diseases that may require the eventual use of these life savings devices, not decrease. I agree with the effectiveness of AED’s, but respectfully disagree with use in every outdoor park and recreation field where the potential use would be statistically negligent.
The IPRA Blog Spot reported on House Bill 1279 incorrectly. At this time the Governor’s proposed amendatory veto will put park districts into the same position regarding AED usage as they were prior to the passage of House Bill 1279. However, it is likely that further attempts will be made to expand the use of AED’s to outdoor facilities owned and operated by the IAPD membership.
I recommend that you go to the Illinois General Assembly web page at www.ilga.gov, input House Bill 1279, click on the Governor’s amendatory veto message, and read the words of the Governor’s amendatory veto in conjunction with the text of the bill to determine its impact on your agency.
Also, please feel free to contact me at 217/523-4554 with any questions you may have with regard to this or any other matter.
Thanks to Peter for clarifying the press release from the Governors Office that appeared in Chicago newspapers and on the governmental site. This press release was sent to the media outlets in the Chicago area and to the IPRA office.
You may view the press release by clicking here.
We appreciate the assistance of IAPD and Peter in clarifying this issue.
If we were to put a price tag to a loss of life, or any law suit because there had not been a proper attention - well than I guess that these steps are pretty reasonable, also there are grants up for grabs. If we think about it, and one of our loves ones were to ever be in need of one of this devices - (which by the way increase the chances of survival), well than I would want them to live a bit longer too. what we need is to make sure that we all contact our local American Red Cross, get inform as they can provide the devices, trainings (if volunteers are to be train, they constantly train troop leaders,these trainings will be as community outreach, and are free), contact your local American Red Cross of Greater Chicago covers 7 counties and has the Americorps program. (you may only need to pay for the training materials - if the students want to keep them). If you need to train your staff; then there will a cost for the training. They even have the trainings in Spanish, Braille if requested, and all their training DVDs’ are closed caption.
So before we all put this mandate down, think of the benefits, as part of a family member trained, as part of your organization, and as part of the community as a whole. Every minute that is delayed between the CPR and the much needed SHOCK or De-fibrillation from the AED device - the chances of survival are decreased by 10%. And there is no longer age limited since studies had shown that anybody from12 and up can go into a cardiac arrest.
So even if you would have to be train, and have to pay for your training. it is worthed.
Work with the parents to help you, help their children’s programs, and invite them to be part of the prevention and life saving skills training, yes I know that volunteers are few and far in between but - the training is free (for volunteers), by getting them train they will be able to keep America Save and Healthy. Where do you keep the AED? in a car a minute away? - OK 2 minutes; remember that the brain starts to die without CPR after 6 minutes, so we do CPR until the AED get there.
As someone had said before us “IF THERE IS A WILL - THERE WILL BE A WAY”…..
BE SAFE, BE HEALTHY….. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.
From a Happy - Red Cross CPR surviver. There you got me! there is my motive.