On July 15, 2026, NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills led a discussion with a group of experts for a conversation about emergency preparedness across all levels of sports. The discussion covered the importance of having an emergency action plan, best practices and protocols from the NFL and beyond, and how programs at all levels of sports can prepare to care for their athletes in case of a medical emergency.
A recording of the event is available to view below:
Dr. Sills was joined by:
- Dr. Jim Ellis, Medical Director for Emergency Preparedness, NFL Player Health and Safety
- Denny Kellington, Vice President of Player Health and Performance, Carolina Panthers
- Wayne B. Moss, Executive Director, National Council of Youth Sports (NCYS)
- Dr. Denise Whitfield, Assistant Medical Director, Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services
Additional community resources, including those mentioned during the session, include:
- National Athletic Trainers Association
Additional NFL Player Health and Safety resources:
Key takeaways from the conversation:
On what every program can do to prepare for potential emergencies:
Jim Ellis: "Look at your unique situation to create your EAP, and it doesn't have to be 5, 8 pages, it may literally be a one-page document... that pre-game medical [meeting], you're running over the EAP, and talking specifically about it."
Wayne Moss: "Engage your coaches, your parents – we've talked about this notion of hands-only CPR, in the event that someone may need to conduct CPR on-site. So again, bring everybody that's a part of this process to the table. Help them be first responders."
Denise Whitfield: "There should be some type of EMS regulatory entity in your area, so you can find out, you know, who's going to respond to your site if you're calling 911. And I would, see, who's that ambulance that's going to show up? What organization do they work with? All of them should have a medical director. That's someone that you can talk to, just about their basic protocols. And I would really focus on those high-risk conditions like the cardiac arrest, the heat emergencies."
Denny Kellington: "Anybody could do bystander CPR – call, push, shock. Let's make sure everybody knows that anybody could do bystander CPR, whether you're a coach, administrator, a parent, anybody can do it."
On the importance of an Emergency Action Plan:
Wayne Moss: "I would say [an EAP is] the first line of defense… Think about, not just the development of that, but also to practice it. We don't want an EAP simply to sit on the shelf, we definitely want, that opportunity to practice.
Denny Kellington: "We review our emergency action plan every year, multiple times a year... we bring all entities together. 30 to 40 people come together that are our game day providers... we go through our rehearsal, our five scenarios that we run through, we review them, we drill them... And then after we go through those rescue situations, we'll have a debrief. What went well, what didn't go well, and what can we do better?"
Jim Ellis: "The emergency action plan is useful in any sports situation, irrespective of the sport. I think the biggest thing that someone that is covering a sport needs to understand historically what can go wrong in that sport... Look at what your sport is and prepare for the emergencies that happen in that sport. Going back to the absolute basics, particularly in the United States of America, you have to focus on cardiac arrest and heat illness."
On knowing your local EMS system and community:
Denise Whitfield: "The quote is, 'If you know one EMS system, you know one EMS system.' And we say that a lot in kind of the field of EMS… And it's really a function of the way that our EMS system developed in the United States…. The result of that is that wherever you go, it may be a little bit different. And I think that it's really important for this audience, because I think in many plans, a tendency might be, oh, it's an emergency, I'm just going to call 911. But actually building relationships with who those people are – knowing who's going to respond when you call 911… Those relationships are really important to establish."
Denny Kellington: "I have some great friends in the high school setting… they prepare their coaches, the parent that may be at that practice or the game, just making sure that there's more than one person that is available to do CPR, or call 911, or get the AED. And then sometimes, if there's an equipment manager that is with that respected team, making sure that they're available to help. And it's a little bit of recruitment, you know, and that's what a lot of high schools, regardless if you're in an urban or rural community, you have to rely on other people to help you out."
On mental health emergency action plans:
Wayne Moss: "We know young people today are faced with many more issues than when we were growing up. And so, mental health is an issue. And this is something that, quite frankly, I think that we can learn from the NFL and others in terms of how to best be prepared for helping our young people."
Denny Kellington: "We are very fortunate here in Charlotte that we have Dr. Joanne Perry, who is our mental health clinician and has developed an emergency mental health emergency action plan with multiple members of our team... When a player becomes in crisis, we know exactly what to do. We have the resources in place in Charlotte, whether it's in hospital, out of hospital, follow-ups, to render care to that person that may be in crisis and maybe even to their family member too, and I think that we would do a great job just trying to educate our players, making sure that they know that we have them taken care of from a physical standpoint but also a mental standpoint when that need may arise."
