WORCESTER, Mass. - In the weeks following Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest during an NFL game, a local little league president has been thinking about his own players' safety. 

According to the National Institute of Health, a sudden impact to the chest, known as commotio cordis, is the number one cause of death among youth athletes. Joe Schwartz Little League President Patrick Jones said it stands to reason those players should be protected.

"We saw that the city of New York is actually purchasing and requiring that all youth baseball fields have these devices," Jones said. "And so I think as we have more awareness of that, that's why we decided to reach out and see if Worcester would work with us on this."

Jones had been hoping to bring AEDs, a device that can restart the heart, to his league's fields on Brooks Street. After talking with some other local leagues and getting positive feedback from Worcester city councilors, he hopes the effort will extend to little league fields citywide.  

"The Damar Hamlin incident showed us the 'why', now the question is the 'how,'" Jones said. "How do we come up with funding for this? We've had conversations with a number of folks in the community, including the Josh Thibodeau Foundation out of Holden, and they're really excited to perhaps partner with the City of Worcester."

The Josh Thibodeau Helping Hearts Foundation was started in honor of 12-year-old Josh Thibodeau of Holden, who passed away in 2011 during a soccer camp from an undiagnosed heart condition. 

Jodi Rich, a longtime board member of the Jesse Burkett Little League, said the AEDs would also help ensure coaches, officials and fans are protected.

"We had an umpire with a medical event at one of our games, we had seen grandparents at other events sort of have some medical complications," Rich said. "We're thinking about not only the kids and seeing a young man like Damar go down, but the spectators, coaches and players as well."

Leagues said the biggest challenge will be ensuring they have plenty of trained individuals and proper storage for the devices, but there's hope any logistical challenges can be overcome for everyone's safety at the game. 

"I'm a father of four, my wife and I have very active kids in the local sports community," Jones said. "To see something like that happen in front of your eyes and recognize that there are tools out there that can prevent something tragic like this from happening, it seems foolish not to at least make an effort at this."

The AED request has been sent to the city council's parks and recreation subcommittee. Jones said local leagues and the Josh Thibodeau Foundation plan to meet with the committee and work for its full support.