Michigan law requiring cardiac emergency response plans in schools operates on honor system

LANSING, Mich. (InvestigateTV) — A 14-year-old athlete collapsed during track practice and her body was going rigid as coaches rushed to her side.

Within seconds, assistant track coach Andrew DeHaan, a nurse, was by her side, on the phone with 911 and performing CPR. Another coach retrieved an automated external defibrillator from the nearby concession stand.

The quick response saved Alyssa Atkinson’s life.

“It could have been so different if my coaches didn’t know what they were doing,” Atkinson said.

The incident occurred less than a year after Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a law in 2024 requiring every public school to have a cardiac emergency response plan.

During the signing, Whitmer was joined by Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin, who experienced a cardiac arrest on the field in 2023.

Young athletes face rare but deadly risk

Sudden cardiac arrest claims the lives of 2,000 children and teens annually in the United States, according to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

The condition occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating, usually because of ventricular fibrillation, which causes rapid and irregular quivering that disrupts electrical function.

Without treatment, sudden cardiac arrest is fatal within minutes.

Michigan’s response plan requirement

Michigan State Rep. John Fitzgerald, who helped craft the legislation, said many schools already had equipment and knowledge, but they might not have had formalized response plans.

“What we really find is that this is something that schools have been preparing for decades. They’ve acquired the AED. They’ve acquired the knowledge, but to then actually put that in one place, in a cardiac emergency response plan, to train for that, to be familiar with what will happen in that event, that may not be as formalized,” Fitzgerald said.

Michigan’s MI HEARTSafe program has honored nearly 1,000 schools for cardiac safety measures, and with many schools prepared, the Michigan Department of Education will not enforce the new law. It is on the honor system.

“What we really find and expect is that schools will be able to take this information, adhere to it, because in the event of an accident, this is something that would probably be scrutinized,” Fitzgerald said.

Personal experience drives advocacy

Michigan Center Schools Superintendent Brady Cook survived cardiac arrest twice, once in 2019 and again in January 2025. The second incident was captured on a school gym surveillance camera and showed Cook collapsing before bystanders administered CPR and used an AED.

“Within seconds, they called an ambulance, they grabbed an AED and they administered CPR. And then when I came to, I ended up getting seven shocks, and it got me back in rhythm, and a little hospital stay and I’m good to go,” Cook said.

Cook said education about recognizing cardiac events is crucial because people often mistake them for seizures or fainting.

“A very common thing is when someone goes down, a lot of people think it’s a seizure or they think the person passed out or something, not knowing that potentially the heart has stopped and oxygen is not getting to the brain,” Cook said.

Recovery and prevention efforts

Atkinson now has a defibrillator and has been cleared to resume athletic activities.

Her mother, Kelly Dolan, said doctors have been unable to determine why the cardiac arrest occurred despite extensive testing.

“Still to this day, I have no idea why this happened to her. We’ve had everything from MRIs, scans, EKGs, echoes, bloodwork, and they still cannot find a reason why this happened to her,” Dolan said.

Atkinson said the high school expanded cardiac emergency training to all faculty and staff after her incident.

National landscape

More than a dozen states have passed laws requiring cardiac emergency response plans in schools. Other states have laws focused on AED placement and training for youth athletics.

Approximately 70% of children survive cardiac arrest in schools with AEDs, seven times the overall survival rate for children, according to the American Heart Association.

See the full story by Ann Emmerich.