Hearts on the Hill – An Advocate’s Perspective

Hello, my name is Jason Schmidt. I’m a school superintendent from Ashley, North Dakota. Last week I went to Washington D.C. with my wife and son to take part in Hearts on the Hill – the American Heart Association’s federal fly-in.

My family and I flew to D.C. to ask our congressional representatives to support policies that would help ensure students, staff and visitors in schools are prepared to respond to a cardiac emergency. Here’s a picture my family from last week (I’m on the right):

A little about me: Last summer, I went into cardiac arrest while coaching my son’s basketball team. I was talking with the team and fell backwards. The other coach, Cory Bader, performed CPR while the athletic trainer, Tabitha Muncy, ran to get an AED. I flatlined twice, once on the floor and once in the ambulance. Everybody was in the right place at the right time to save my life, from the other coach, the first responders, and the athletic trainer with an AED nearby. They are all my heroes.

This trip was my family’s first visit to Washington D.C. It was a really great experience, even if the weather was a little warm and humid for me. It was an honor to meet some of my elected officials and their staff, to advocate for something so important. Something that saved my life. But the part of the trip that was the most special was to meet and hear the stories of other people who’ve suffered a cardiac arrest or lost someone to a cardiac arrest. My son saw me flatline twice, and he was able to speak with other people who’ve had similar experiences, people who could relate to him.

We need to get everybody trained on how to use an AED, how to perform CPR. That training saved my life last year. We can think something isn’t going to happen to us, but it does. It can happen to people from all age groups, all walks of life. If you know how to perform CPR, if you have access to an AED, you can save someone’s life.