Sept. 9, 2011
On Saturday morning September 10, Vanderbilt University will host the largest emergency preparedness training day for Athletes in the United States. Over 300 professional, collegiate, and high school athletes from all across middle Tennessee will gather at Vanderbilt University’s basketball practice facility to train and become certified in CPR and the use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). With the guidance of the Vanderbilt Resuscitation Center and support from Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt Medical Center, Vanderbilt Sports Medicine, Nashville American Heart Association, Nashville Fire Department, the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, the NFLPA Retired Players (Nashville Chapter), Iona-McGregor Fire & Rescue District (Ft. Myers, FL), and Pocket CPR, all 300 athletes will be trained and certified under AHA guidelines and leave prepared to save a life.
The training will begin at 9 a.m. at the Practice Gym in Memorial Gym, and is open to all Vanderbilt students and the general public.
Over twenty former NFL greats including Eddie Khayat, former NFL Head Coach and player, Raymond Berry, former NFL Head Coach and player, Ross Browner (Bengals-Packers) and Chris Sanders who starred with the Tennessee Titans will be participating as well as athletes from Vanderbilt University, TSU, Belmont, and dozens of area high schools.
ATHLETES FOR AMERICA (AFA) was founded in September 2001 by former collegiate and professional athlete, Billy McGehee. AFA’s Mission; to educate, train and certify America’s Athletes in life saving techniques then enroll them into what will become the largest Civilian emergency preparedness network in the American history.
“Watching the horrific events of September 11, 2001, something changed inside of me,” said McGehee. “I knew that our Nation had changed forever. I felt that I had to do something to help America become better prepared for emergencies, disasters and even future terrorist strikes. Our citizens would need to learn again how to depend on each other in times of emergencies and disasters. It was clear to me that in order to accomplish this goal America would need to accelerate the education and training of our citizens in life saving programs.
“But how do you accomplish this? Then it dawned on me. Who better than our Athletes to take on this challenge! This concept was reinforced when I went home to Louisiana the day after Katrina hit. People everywhere were dialing 9-11 and simply waiting for help. No one really knew what to do. It was stunning! The idea of using the strength of our Athletes and the power of sports to create a safer nation has now become the foundation of our national initiative. There is no better way to honor the victims of 9-11, and really all victims of emergencies, then to educate and train a whole new generation of first responders that can and will help others in emergency situations.”
“The Nashville Fire Department is excited to partner with ATHLETES FOR AMERICA in the upcoming CPR training day, as part of an effort to educate our Athletes in emergency preparedness,” said Nashville Fire Chief Stephen Halford. “Certifying groups of Athletes to administer CPR and early defibrillation to those who suffer sudden cardiac arrest will certainly assist our Department in its life-saving mission and surely increase survival rates in our community.”