ORCHARD PARK (WKBW) — When Damar Hamlin collapsed during the Bengals-Bills game Monday, a team of medical professionals was prepared for the unprecedented.
"You could quickly see the seriousness of the nature... That it was different than anything we had experienced," Cincinnati Bengals Coach Zac Taylor said, "I thought that they were on it. They were composed. It was obviously a complicated situation on the field that everybody was trying to process."
"There's a whole system in place down on the field. They practice that on a regular basis," Erie County Emergency Services Commissioner Dan Neaverth said.
But the preparedness goes beyond a medical team on each NFL field.
"If you're in any facility, you have a North and a South emergency room," Neaverth said.
Each NFL stadium must have a level-one trauma center. Highmark Stadium staffs both emergency rooms with local staff.
"You have doctors from ECMC, top-notch doctors from around the area, as well as nurses, physician assistants, medics, EMTs, firefighters," Neaverth said.
Dr. Allen Sills, the Chief Executive Officer of the NFL, said the work done by the medical teams in Cincinnati is exactly what saved Damar Hamlin's life.
"It's certainly not an exaggeration to say that the skilled and immediate response by all these talented caregivers prevented a very tragic outcome at that moment," Dr. Sills said.
"If you're going to have a bad day, especially from a real medical emergency standpoint, that's not a bad place to be," Neaverth said.
7 News reached out to ECMC and UBMD to interview one of the doctors that works at the emergency rooms at Highmark Stadium. UBMD said they wanted to clear the interview with the Bills, who told them they were not ready just yet.
