Bill Text: MI SR0024 | 2013-2014 | 97th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: A resolution designating April 2013 as Michigan Student Athlete Cardiac Awareness Month.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 11-4)
Status: (Passed) 2013-03-20 - Adopted [SR0024 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2013-SR0024-Enrolled.html
SR-24, As Adopted by Senate, March 20, 2013
Senators Pappageorge, Booher and Hood offered the following resolution:
Senate Resolution No. 24.
A resolution designating April 2013 as Michigan Student Athlete Cardiac Awareness Month.
Whereas, The state of Michigan has lost at least 53 students to sudden cardiac arrest and related causes since December 1999, including 16-year-old Detroit Catholic Central High School football player David Widzinski who died in his sleep on December 3, 2012. On January 15, 2013, 17-year-old Toron Murphy, Jr., who played football for Martin Luther King, Jr. High School in Detroit, collapsed just after arriving at school and was later pronounced dead at the hospital; and
Whereas, One of those students lost was 15-year-old Kimberly Anne Gillary, who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest in a high school water polo game on April 1, 2000; and
Whereas, The Gillary family founded the Kimberly Anne Gillary Foundation in April 2000 in Kimberly’s memory to donate automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to Michigan high schools and to advocate cardiac screening and testing of all Michigan high school student athletes; and
Whereas, As of February 2, 2013, the Kimberly Anne Gillary Foundation has raised more than $1.18 million and donated more than 610 AEDs to Michigan high schools; and
Whereas, There have been at least two lives saved using AEDs donated by the Kimberly Anne Gillary Foundation. On October 24, 2007, the life of 17-year-old Ashley Palmer was saved at Davison High School due to the quick thinking and training of Davison High School staff members. On April 22, 2009, 67-year-old Larry Ratkowski, while a spectator at a Hamilton High School baseball game, was saved due to the quick thinking and training of the principal, the athletic trainer, one of the students, and a deputy sheriff; and
Whereas, In large part, as a result of the efforts of the Kimberly Anne Gillary Foundation, approximately 75 percent of the high schools in Michigan now have at least one AED, and staff members are trained in CPR and the use of an AED. There is an increased awareness of the importance of more effective pre-participation cardiac screening of our high school student athletes and having AEDs readily accessible in our Michigan high schools; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate, That April 2013 be hereby designated as Michigan Student Athlete Cardiac Awareness Month; and be it further
Resolved, That the people of the state of Michigan are encouraged to become more aware of the importance of improved pre-participation screening of our student athletes and the preparedness of our citizenry and public employees to respond to the sudden cardiac arrest of our sons and daughters while entrusted to our public schools in the course of their education; and be it further
Resolved, That the State Board of Education be urged to include provisions in policies and regulations for AED training in student health education courses and for regular AED drills, so that students and staff will be better prepared to use AEDs to save lives in schools and other public places; and be it further
Resolved, That the State Board of Education advise schools to facilitate the education of students and their families to identify situations where students may be at risk; and be it further
Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the Kimberly Anne Gillary Foundation and the State Board of Education as a symbol of our support.
