PITTSBURGH (PTTP) – On May 9, 2022, Milan Brown collapsed in a hallway inside the Petersen Events Center. In that hallway, Brown experienced cardiac arrest, but if not for Amy Anderson and Terri Mitchell, Brown would not be alive. Their expert work allowed Brown to be saved by a combination of an AED and CPR from both women.
Brown recovered and now is back to his job coaching on the sidelines as the associate head coach of the Pitt Men’s Basketball team. However, the incident paired with the terrifying event in Cincinnati that occurred to Damar Hamlin in January has caused a push within the Pitt Athletics community.
That push details athletes and coaches alike learning CPR and how to properly use AEDs in the case of a life-emergency situation. Without the timely manner in which Anderson and Mitchell acted, Brown would not be alive. He firmly believes that the push will help save lives in the future.
“Everybody should know these things (CPR and AEDs),” Brown said. “The importance of it for me and someone like Damar hits home. It saved our lives. Everybody knowing it is great because you don’t know what situation you will be in all walks of life. It’s not just for the athletes, but the athletic department.”
Coaches already go through training, but that trickles down now to the players. UPMC stepped up to the plate to help the initiative. They will teach the players and faculty to do CPR and operate AEDs. Dr. Raymond Pitetti is one of the doctors spearheading the initiative. As the Director of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at UPMC Children’s Hospital, Pitetti is overjoyed to see the sports teams learning CPR and AEDs up close.
“A lot of kudos to be honest to Pitt,” Pittetti said. “I think that, in my personal opinion, every single person should know CPR, but in particular sports teams, coaches, and players should all know CPR and know how to use AED. That’s because you know that these events can happen on the field from trauma or an underlying heart defect. And the sooner you can start CPR, the better. Everyone should know CPR and every stadium and sports complex should have AED on-site.”
With the new initiative in place, Brown and Hamlin continue to feel support from around the Pitt community. Without it, Brown is not sure he would have been able to get back to coaching so quickly. He met with Hamlin on Tuesday and after they got done talking, Hamlin vowed to meet up with Brown over their shared experience.
“When I started to tell him that the same thing happened to me, he stopped me and said that he knew,” Brown said. “In his words, he said we need to chop it up. So, we’ll link up here soon. What I felt from him was a sense of gratitude and thankfulness. We’re truly two people that can say you have to take advantage of the day at hand.”