CINCINNATI – Between the time Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field at Paycor Stadium and his arrival at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, emergency crews both on scene and back at the hospital were hard at work preparing for his arrival.

What You Need To Know

  • UC Medical Center is the only level 1 trauma center in greater Cincinnati

  • The designation means they have 24/7 access to all of the emergency personnel and resources they need to respond to various traumas

  • Time and information are key factors in improving patient outcomes in an emergency

  • While athletes often have access to medical services and quick intervention, the same rules apply to any emergency

UC Medical Center is one of 12 level 1 trauma centers in the state of Ohio, the highest designation for emergency response. All such hospitals have access to 24/7 trauma surgeons, specialists in various medical fields and all the resources needed to respond.

As the only level 1 trauma center in the region, UC Medical Center has a history of high-profile patients and emergency intervention for athletes, including earlier this football season when Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a serious head injury in Week 4.

Even if the hospital has everything it needs to intervene, Dr. Nicholas Kman, an emergency physician at Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, said all emergency departments rely on two major factors from first responders and anyone on-scene: time and information.

“In the emergency department, oftentimes we work in an information vacuum like somebody’s found down outside their house,” he said.

Kman said hospitals strive to provide the same quality of care for all of their patients but when that patient is an athlete, information about the patient’s medical history and the cause of the emergency are often easier to get in a timely manner.

“A lot of times the sports physician that’s responsible for that sport would come in maybe with that athlete or we would do a doctor-to-doctor phone call about what happened and what the expectation is when they arrive,” he said. “It’s in some ways a little bit easier to target our treatment.”

In a stadium , emergency intervention is also just steps away. While it was a scary scene as medical personnel administered CPR on Hamlin for more than eight minutes, Dr. Urmil Pandya, the Trauma Medical Director at OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, said that kind of quality immediate intervention can save lives.

“Time is of the essence,” he said. “Minutes will lead to a worse outcome. Every minute that goes by will lead to worse outcomes.”

Pandya said the use of an automatic emergency defibrillator (AED) is particularly crucial, especially whenever a patient is experiencing any kind of cardiac irregularity.

“Generally, the only thing that can kick someone out of that is a shock to get the electrical rhythm back to normal,” he said.

While athletes are fortunate to have increased access to these resources during high-profile games, Kman said the same rules about emergency intervention apply to every patient who comes into an emergency room. That’s why he’s a strong advocate for increased availability and awareness of AEDs and for anyone who can to know the basics of emergency response.

“If you’re somebody who’s out in the community and you get an opportunity to take a basic life support class or a CPR training, I think that’s very important,” he said.