ORCHARD PARK N.Y. (WKBW) — What happened to bills safety Damar Hamlin is now having a profound impact when it comes to raising awareness about the importance of CPR training.
According to the American Heart Association in one year alone more than 400,000 Americans die from cardiac arrest, and over 300,000 of them are outside of the hospital. But also 7 in 10 people say they feel powerless in those situations.
"The American Heart Association is is committed to turning a nation of by standards into a nation of life savors," American Heart Association representative said at Highmark Stadium at the first of many events of its kind.
On Staturday the Bills and the American Heart Association have started a partnership kicking everything off with an event called the Bills heartbeat. Organizers said this is just the beginning as their partnership is a five year $1 million push for more CPR training.
"As we learned from my personal experience it is very important and live changing," Damar Hamlin said.
The event opened the stadium doors to families, local kids sports teams and anyone who wanted to learn CPR. Continuing those efforts, Hamlin's foundation, Chasing M's, had a big announcement.
"Today I'm launching our first program of the charity which is the chasing M's CPR tour," he said.
This tour will teaching CPR and donating AED kits to sports and community groups across the country.
