WNBA star Tina Charles started a charity in 2013 to increase awareness and preparedness for sudden cardiac arrest, a cause that has come to the forefront after the on-field collapse of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin on Monday.
The 2012 WNBA MVP founded Hopey’s Heart Foundation to honor her aunt, Maureen “Hopey” Vaz, who died of multiple organ failure in March 2013. The organization provides AED donations and CPR training to schools and community centers.
Hopey’s Heart Foundation has donated 447 AEDs to date, per its website.
“I see it as the more AEDs out there we can help combat sudden cardiac arrest,” Charles said in 2014. “The more AEDs out there the better chance people will have.”
When Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest during the Bills’ Monday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals, medical personnel rushed onto the field, where they performed CPR and used an AED to help the 24-year-old. He remains in critical condition Wednesday at a Cincinnati hospital.
CPR helps blood to pump through the body, and an AED (which stands for automated external defibrillator) sends an electrical shock to the heart to restore its rhythm.
Fewer than 40 percent of people who experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital receive…
