There are so many perspectives from which to tell this story, I'm not sure whose to use first.

Jim Dirkson's perhaps. He's the 56-year-old Oswego scientist and assistant coach of a traveling baseball team who happened to be pitching to his son the evening of Jan. 11 when he suddenly collapsed.

Or I could start with 16-year-old Oswego High School junior Ariana Castillo, who was working out with her traveling softball team the same time Dirkson went into cardiac arrest at the Oswego sports complex.

Then again, I could take the story back to Edward Hospital nurse Amanda Hunt, who is passionate about CPR training for high school students – indeed, the public in general .

MYERSTOWN, PA--Students of Elco's emergency medical technician program got a lesson they won't soon forget when they were involved in a real-life medical emergency recently at the high school.

An elderly gentleman visiting the school for a musical program suffered cardiac arrest and was found unresponsive; without a pulse.

A number of students as well as the EMT instructor responded to the emergency and initiated CPR, with astounding results — a regained pulse; a restarted heart in a person clinically deceased.

About a dozen students responded to the emergency; a few brought equipment to the scene. Some waited to show the ambulance personnel where to go, and at least four performed chest compressions on the man.

NEW YORK, NY--To toughen safety standards in youth sports, medical experts are turning away from lawmakers and toward high school sports associations to implement policies and procedures to prevent deaths and serious injuries.

The National Athletic Trainers' Association and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine completed two days of meetings and programs with representatives from all 50 state high school athletic associations Friday at the NFL offices in Manhattan. The goal was to have decision-makers return to their states and push high schools to put into place recommendations on how best to handle potentially catastrophic medical conditions such as heat stroke, sudden cardiac arrest, and head and neck injuries. 

CHARLESTON, WV--West Virginia middle school and high school students will be required to learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation under new state legislation expected to be signed into law. WV HB 3017 was sent to the Education Committee yesterday.

Starting in the fall semester of 2015, students in grades six through 12 will practice giving chest compressions every year in health class. Previously, the West Virginia Department of Education required instruction in CPR and first aid without the hands-on, psychomotor practice.

When the NCAA hired a neurologist two years ago to improve protocols for handling concussions, nobody foresaw that he would make a priority out of sudden cardiac death. But as the first chief medical officer in the history of the NCAA—an organization founded to promote athlete health— Brian Hainline has no intention of limiting his influence to neurology.

“Concussions have overshadowed everything,” says Hainline, a New York University neurologist. “Why aren’t we talking about death?”