INDIANAPOLIS — Drew Brantley says he’s always looking for the nearest automated external defibrillator, or AED. The IU Kokomo head baseball coach says one of the machines jump-started his heart back when he was a teenager.

“I was shocked four times,” Brantley told 13 Investigates. “Without the AED, I would not be sitting here.”

Back in 2010, Brantley was a student at Western High School, a seemingly healthy student-athlete. Then he collapsed in a weight class due to an undiagnosed heart condition.

At the time, news spread of the then-17-year-old’s brush with death. Indiana lawmakers even signed a resolution to honor the staff who saved him.

Now, 14 years later, Brantley is surprised AEDs are not required in Indiana schools. Indiana lawmakers have had opportunities to do so but stopped short of requiring the lifesaving machines.

Tracking AED use in schools

13 Investigates wanted to find out how often AEDs were used in Indiana schools. The state does not know. To get answers, 13 Investigates surveyed 125 school districts in central Indiana.

The questions asked districts if they have the devices, the number of machines available, and if the AEDs were ever used to help a student or adult. Thirty-six districts said they used the machines during an emergency.

Twelve districts reported using an AED at least once on a student. Northeastern Wayne Schools told 13 Investigates an AED was needed for a student on multiple occasions.

Even more districts, 27, said an AED was used on an adult.

Like Howard Ely.

AED timing critical

Ely, a Franklin Community assistant basketball coach, collapsed back in 2015. Then, he was a Perry Meridian High School coach at an away game.

Ely recalled he “was yelling at the girls because we were still close enough that we could win the game,” he said. “I sat back down on the bench, and next thing I know, I wake up in the hospital. I guess the first words out of my mouth in the room were, ‘Did we win?'”

Ely and Brantley both had an AED applied within minutes.

Dr. Adam Kean says that timing is key. The pediatric cardiologist at Riley Hospital for Children says if an AED is used within one to three minutes, the patient’s chances of surviving improve.

“Drastically,” Kean said. “We’re talking about 5-10% survival going to 50-70% survival.”

Saving student athletes

Kean oversees Project Adam in Indiana, an organization that helps schools prepare to respond to a case of sudden cardiac arrest — the leading cause of death for student athletes.

Student athletes like 17-year-old Jake West. His school had an AED, but it was not close to the field where he collapsed in 2013 and died a short time later.

“To think that it could have been prevented is really hard … hard on me,” his mom, Julie West, told 13 Investigates.

Now, she works to make AEDs available in as many places as possible and has a nonprofit, the Play for Jake Foundation, dedicated to that effort. For years, West has advocated making AEDs mandatory in schools. She also wants schools to be required to follow best practices.

“Having an AED in school is not enough,” West said. “You have to have the plan.”

Organizations including the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and Project Adam recommend schools not just have AEDs but have enough to make sure one can be retrieved in three minutes or less from any location.  They also suggest schools have a cardiac or emergency response plan and conduct emergency drills.

13 Investigates found that most of the 125 central Indiana districts surveyed have AEDs. Only 25 districts shared or posted policies or plans that require a 3-minute retrieval goal, venue-specific plans, and drills.

State AED requirements

Indiana state law does not require schools to have AEDs or a policy or plan about using them.

Indiana does require teachers and coaches to receive CPR and AED training due to a law passed in 2023 named after Jake West. Jake’s Law also provides some funding to help pay for the machines. The law says schools can use money from the Secured School Safety Grant to pay for AEDs. Zionsville and Greensburg Community Schools told 13 Investigates they received AED funding through that grant.

Schools that apply and receive money must develop a site-specific emergency action plan. Indian Creek, Daleville, and West Lafayette school districts each shared venue-specific plans with 13News. Some of these plans include instructions that direct emergency crews to a specific door or entrance to help them reach a patient quickly. It is that kind of action that medical experts say can shave minutes off the time it takes to get a person to the hospital.

State Sen. Linda Rogers (R-Granger), the author of Jake’s Law, told 13 Investigates she plans to propose another bill that would make AEDs in Indiana schools mandatory.

“I understand no one wants to be over-regulated,” she said, “but when it comes to health and safety, that’s number one.”

Brantley says even at the college level his players and fans are not guaranteed to have an AED nearby. So, he makes sure to bring one to away games. Some school districts report they do the same thing, just in case.

“If something happened and we didn’t have our AED available, and we didn’t do everything that we could, I don’t think I could live with myself for that one,” he said.