March 31, 2022

Kai 11 Bill: New Wisconsin law to help educate student-athletes about sudden cardiac arrest - News8000.com - WKBT

Gundersen Health System experts hope cardiac arrest awareness will save lives in youth sports

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) — Winning in sports requires a lot of discipline and heart, but health experts are reminding athletes to take care of their hearts, too.

This week, Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill requiring parents of student-athletes to receive a form that educates them on sudden cardiac arrest. One Waukesha family hopes the new law will save lives after losing one of their own.

Perseverance requires heart. Life beats to a cardiac rhythm, and sometimes an athlete’s heart wears out.

“There’s been a culture in the past of, ‘you just power through it,’” said Andrea Winters, a physician assistant at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse.

Winters encourages student-athletes and parents to recognize changes during exercise.

“Chest discomfort with exercise of any type; and it may not be intense. It may be vague or kind of just this mild pressure discomfort. All of that needs to be recognized and evaluated,” Winters said.

“Screening for them is the key,” she said.

About 2,000 young, seemingly healthy people under age 25 in the United States die each year of sudden cardiac arrest, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It’s a silent killer and we just need to do a better job protecting other student-athletes,” said Mike Lermer, the father of Kai Lermer, a Waukesha North High School student who died during a basketball game in 2019.

“Kai was a three-sport athlete. A standout in each one. Varsity in all of them, but yet he still passed,” said Paul Ybarra, Kai’s Godfather. “So if parents don’t think this can happen to their kids, it can.”

Evers signed the Kai 11 Bill into law at Waukesha North Tuesday.

“Kai’s friends and family, have turned this unthinkable tragedy into an action that can save lives,” Evers said.

Honoring the heart Kai showed on and off the court, and leaving behind knowledge for other athletes; staying one step ahead.

“It’s going to change the lives of so many families and students in Wisconsin just by educating parents on the risk,” Lermer said.

Kai remains part of the team, looking out for others as they strive to perform at their best.

“Today I know, Kai is flying a little higher knowing Wisconsin students are a little safer because of the Kai 11 Law. Fly high Kai,” Lermer said. “We love you, number 11.”

A number now marked in the history of Wisconsin law.

source: https://www.news8000.com/the-kai-11-bill-new-wisconsin-law-to-help-educate-student-athletes-about-sudden-cardiac-arrest/

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