Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, accompanied by Damar Hamlin, signed into law bills requiring schools to develop comprehensive cardiac emergency response plans.

Stuarts Draft Elementary School recently became the second school in Augusta County to become a Project ADAM Heart Safe school. The school celebrated the achievement at an after-school event May 8.

Project ADAM (Automated Defibrillators in Adams Memory) helps schools, athletic programs, and community sites become heart safe, connecting them with the resources needed to respond during those first critical minutes after a sudden cardiac arrest. It is a national nonprofit committed to saving lives through advocacy, education, preparedness and collaboration.

The project is named in honor of Adam Lemel, a 17-year-old Wisconsin student who collapsed and died while playing basketball, suffering sudden cardiac arrest. There was no automated external defibrillator (AED) at the site of the game, a device that could have saved Lemel's life.

Lauren Lamp, the school nurse at Stuarts Draft Elementary, reached out to Virginia Commonwealth University for help with training. In order to be certified, the school had to organize an emergency response team, all of whom have to be up to date on CPR and AED certifications.

Stuarts Draft Elementary has 10 members on the team, who also worked closely with Augusta County Fire and Rescue and the Stuarts Draft Rescue squad during the certification process.

"I also did an all-staff training on cardiac arrest," Lamp said. "Just so everyone was made aware that there was a team if they were to come across someone who might be having cardiac troubles, they could essentially sound the alarm for the team to come and respond. So it's a group effort."

Wilson Memorial Elementary is the only other Augusta County School that is Project ADAM certified.

Starting July 1, all Virginia public elementary and secondary schools will be required to work with local emergency medical services to develop and implement cardiac emergency response plans, per legislation signed into law by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

"Many of the schools in Virginia had already planned for that," said Dr. John Phillips, a pediatric cardiologist and electrophysiologist, and Project ADAM medical director at the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU. "Now that it's a state law, having the Project ADAM Heart Safe School designation puts Stuarts Draft Elementary in compliance with that law."

According to the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU, Project ADAM has helped save the lives of more than 200 youth and adults in schools. There are approximately 350,000 sudden cardiac arrests in the U.S. each year, per the website, and about 90% outside of hospitals are fatal.

Phillips said that, for every minute that passes, those experiencing sudden cardiac arrest have a 10% less chance of surviving, particularly after the four-minute mark.

"Wherever you are in your community, you can call 911, but the chance of EMS arriving within four minutes and shocking you is pretty low," Phillips said. "So it's important for wherever we come together as a community for us to be prepared for sudden cardiac arrest. That's why places like schools, arenas, airports, Walmart have AEDs available. And they should have a plan and be prepared for it."

-- Patrick Hite is a reporter at The News Leader. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Connect with Patrick (he/him/his) at [email protected] and on Instagram @hitepatrick. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.