By Amanda Krew
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
The Baltimore City Council on Monday supported a press conference by the parents of a University of Maryland athlete who died of heat stroke on campus and then followed with unanimous approval of the Jordan McNair Student Athlete Protection Act.
“It is a victorious day because this is where we can be impactful,” said Marty McNair, father of the deceased student athlete. “Policy implementation and law are significant in holding people accountable for protecting out student athletes.”
Under the act, coaches and team parents would be required to attend six mandatory safety training biennially to receive a permit to use the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks facilities. The policy will require training in concussion risk management, heat stroke and exhaustion management, operation of an Automated External Defibrillator, cardiac arrest management, and identification of abuse and neglect.
Also, there must be access to an AED on the field during games and practices. The goal, officials said, is to protect Baltimore’s youth athletes through training, as well as equipment requirements for all facilities under Recreation and Parks Department. The policy requires Recreation and Parks officials to work with the Baltimore City Health Department in developing the training.
Jordan McNair, of Randallstown who attended McDonogh School, suffered heatstroke during football practice at the University of Maryland on May 29, 2018. He was an offensive lineman for the Terrapins, but Maryland trainers didn’t recognize the symptoms quickly enough, and didn’t properly treat it once they did, officials said. McNair wasn’t placed in a cold-water immersion tub and arrived at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park with a body temperature of 106 degrees. He died 15 days later.
His parents have worked to carry out his legacy through the Jordan McNair Foundation.
“It’s hurtful but we need to speak up and make people aware and let people know that heat stroke is 100 percent preventable,” said Tonya Wilson, Jordan’s mother, during the press conference. “My heart goes out to all the families. Jordan was my only child.”
The City Council meeting opened with students from the McKim Community Association explaining the importance of track and field and how sports have improved their lives.
The foundation months ago started a campaign to collect cold-water immersion tubs and distributed 200 on the national level, the parents said. The tubs were distributed to sports programs all over the nation.
“When Jordan passed, what wasn’t on the field that day was a cold-water tub,” Marty McNair told the Baltimore Watchdog. “A cold-water tub is significant to any kind of cooling down of the body whenever the body goes above 104 degrees, literally you have 10-15 minutes to put a student athlete in the cold-water tubs and that will bring the body temperature down. If you don’t that’s when you’re in the danger zone because that’s the equivalent to putting your body in a microwave oven. All your organs start to cook from the inside.”
The law now goes to the mayor’s desk and, if signed, takes effect next year, when it will impact 43 recreation centers, 170 athletic fields, 269 parks, and 21 pools, council members said.
Wilson told the Baltimore Watchdog that the foundation is carrying Jordan’s legacy by “saving lives. It starts with students. Education, awareness, and prevention.”