All Articles by Brooke de Lench

Of the many variables that affect survivability for a person who experiences sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), one of the most important is how rapidly the AED is physically delivered to the victim's side. Indeed, few life threatening emergencies are as time sensitive as SCA. AEDs should be located within a 2-minute brisk walk of every nook and cranny of a school or to the farthest reaches of an athletic field.

Locating playing fields near busy highways pose serous risks to the developing lungs of young athletes. A substantial and growing body of scientific evidence has linked airborne toxic pollution from motor vehicles, trains and aircraft to significant health problems, especially in children, including aggravated asthma, chronic bronchitis, reduced lung function, irregular heartbeat, heart attack and premature death in people with heart or lung disease.

One of the biggest hazards in outside field sports, yet often the most overlooked, is the field itself. Because parents can't count on the referee or their child's coach to inspect the field before a game begins to ensure that it is in a playable condition, the best injury prevention strategy is to set up a field detail of parents to do the inspection.

Because children follow and take their cue from the examples set by their heroes in the pros and high amateur ranks, the national sports governing bodies and professional leagues need to set the right example for the parents and children of this country by showing that they take concussions seriously. Until they do, parents are going to be fighting an uphill battle in convincing their young warriors to treat concussions the same way. The twelfth and final right of parents under the Parent's Concussion Bill of Rights is the right to expect that concussion safety programs be implemented or expanded at the highest levels of sport.

Because many athletes are unaware that they have suffered concussions in the past, and because the taking of a detailed concussion history may pre-identify athletes who require additional management and the opportunity for physicians to educate athletes about the significance of concussion injuries, the eleventh right of parents under the Parent's Concussion Bill of Rights is the right to expect that their child's sports progam will have athletes undergo a pre-participation evaluation (PPE) before each season which includes the taking of a detailed concussion history.