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Buffalo Bills medical staff participates in NFL emergency preparedness training

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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WKBW) – Monday was different at One Bills Drive because it was the Buffalo Bills medical staff receiving reps while participating in NFL emergency preparedness training.

With the help of local doctors, the Bills’ athletic trainers and medical staff studied five different scenarios to meet the NFL’s Emergency Action Plan guidelines.

PAE Training Invoices

Briana Aldridge/WKBW

PAE Training Invoices

“Everything that could go wrong goes wrong, so let’s do it here now,” said Dr. Brian Clemency. “Let’s make the most difficult situation we can imagine, and that way we’ll be as prepared as possible.”

Scenario #5

Briana Aldridge/WKBW

Scenario #5 (PAE)

One thing that sets the Bills’ medical staff apart is that they are one of two NFL teams to hire independent doctors who specialize in emergency medicine.

“Everyone does a great job with it, but as an emergency physician, it’s cool that they’re teachers; they work with EMS and paramedics every day, so they have a lot to add from an education standpoint,” the NFL’s emergency preparedness consultant said. Player Health and Safety, Dr. Jim Ellis.

Dr. Ellis has been involved in the NFL for decades and has seen the league make massive efforts to ensure the health and safety of its players. He says Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest on the field was one of the rare moments in recent sports history.

“The previous cardiac arrest was in 1971, it was a Detroit Lions player named Chuck Hughes. So essentially we’ve gone 50 years without a cardiac arrest on the field,” Dr. Ellis said.

CHUCK HUGHES

DM/AP

As Detroit Lions wide receiver Chuck Hughes’ helmet lies near where he fell in the final minute of play on Oct. 25, 1971, between the Lions and the Chicago Bears, the team’s doctor he Edwin Gis team looks at Hughes, right. Hughes, 28, had just completed a pass when he tripped and fell. He later died in a Detroit hospital. (AP Photo)

Because the NFL’s health and safety department continues to improve, the Bills’ medical staff was well prepared and able to act quickly.

“It’s just all the hard work paid off. We do all this training for a reason. It all came to light that day in Cincinnati,” Dr. Ellis said.

The two-hour hands-on training day is another opportunity to improve within the organization.

“We had head trauma, neck trauma, cardiac arrest, heat exhaustion,” Bills head athletic trainer Nate Breske said. “So it’s really about working on things that might happen in real life.”

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