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Concussion Bill of Rights #8: Paramedics Present At All Football Games

Delay in treatment can be fatal

In September 2002, Will Benson, a 17-year old football player from Austin, Texas, collapsed during a game after suffering a brain injury. Paramedics were unable to reach him for nearly 30 minutes because the person who called 911 didn't tell the dispatcher exactly where he was, causing them to waste valuable time trying to find the trainer's room where Will lay unconscious. He later died at a nearby hospital.

The eighth right of parents under the Parent's Concussion Bill of Rights is therefore the right to expect that an ambulance and paramedics are present at all high school football games, and, if they are not, procedures are in place on how to activate the school's emergency medical plan to call 911.