NORFOLK, Va. – Millions of TV viewers saw Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin fall to the turf during a Monday Night football game in January and watched in horror after sportscasters announced he'd suffered an apparent cardiac arrest.
It was a modern first for televised sports – a life and death drama in which after making a tackle, Hamlin took two steps, fell to the ground and his heart stopped beating for 10 long minutes.
Ultimately, the medical team was able to re-start his heart, and eventually, he had a full recovery. But that event began a national debate about athletics and contact sports, especially football.
Experts began to wonder whether athletes in contact sports such as football should have a full cardiovascular workup before being allowed to compete. The testing is usually expensive.
Thanks to the help of cardiologist Dr. George Sarris and Norfolk-based Sentara Healthcare, that testing is already being done at Old Dominion University.
Nearly all ODU athletes, including all of those in contact sports, already receive a complete cardiac exam before first stepping on the field or the court.
Dr. Sarris and others from Sentara have come to ODU's campus since 2017 to give each athlete an EKG and echocardiogram.
The next batch of athletes, including all newcomers for the men's and women's basketball teams, will be tested at the Fort Norfolk Medical Plaza on July 31st in a Sentara facility.
Previously, all testing was done at ODU.
"Very few schools offer this," said Dr. Wood Selig, ODU's director of athletics. "The NCAA wants student-athletes to have healthcare when they're in school and insurance for years beyond being a student athlete.
"We got ahead of this a long time ago. And we're not just taking care of student-athletes after the fact, but we're taking care of them from the minute they walk on campus."
The partnership between Sentara and ODU proved invaluable during the 2022-23 athletic year when two Monarch athletes in different sports collapsed.
Men's basketball point guard Imo Essien collapsed during an early January game at Georgia Southern, just days after Hamlin's incident. As a result, the incident received national media coverage.
He was treated on the scene by Jason Mitchell, ODU's associate head athletic trainer, and was in Dr. Sarris's Suffolk office early Monday morning.
His heart turned out not to be an issue, but because of the relationship with Sentara, he was cleared to safely return to the court sooner than otherwise might have happened, Selig said.
"Having more medical information on Imo up front was very helpful," Selig said. "Otherwise, we might have had to have kept him out for the entire year."
The second event occurred in early May, when ODU women's tennis player Mya Byrd collapsed inside the Folkes-Stevens Indoor Tennis Center. Her heartbeat had slowed to a crawl, her breathing was shallow and she was unconscious.
Assistant Athletic Trainer Bobby Broddus performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation chest compressions (CPR) on Byrd until she became conscious again. She was rushed to the Sentara Heart Hospital, where Dr. Sarris and others carried out a battery of tests.
Sentara cardiologist Dr. George Sarris offered his help to ODU Athletic Director Wood Selig.
The tests showed no cardiac abnormalities and she returned to practice, albeit it with a heart monitor.
Scott Johnson, ODU's associate athletics director for athletic training and sports medicine, said "having a baseline of tests already in hand gave them something to compare with the latest tests.
"Our relationship with Sentara, and all they do for ODU, has been such a blessing for us."
While no lives may have yet been saved through the testing of ODU athletes, potential issues have been flagged. Heart murmurs and other abnormalities were discovered, and many were treated with medication and/or modified workout schedules.
"There are congenital heart defects that people are born with that are completely silent," Dr. Sarris said. "There are people born with that and it may manifest itself over time.
"By identifying them sooner rather than later, you improve that individual's overall quality of life and the outcome.
"There have been a handful of athletes we've identified with congenital heart disease who otherwise wouldn't have known it. Some of these students have graduated and moved on. I'd like to think that we've made some impact on their lives."
Sentara's involvement with ODU began after a series of conversations between Dr. Sarris and Selig, whose daughters played tennis together at Norfolk Collegiate. Over the years, the Selig and Sarris families became close.
"Very few schools offer this type of testing," said Dr Wood Selig, ODU's director of athletics
"Dr. Sarris has a great family and he's a brilliant doctor with a great bedside manner," Selig said. "And he's got a heart of gold.
"We were on the sidelines of a football game talking with each other and he asked me what could be done to help protect our student-athletes.
"He suggested one way to do it is to get a baseline on all athletes their first semester on campus. If there's any abnormality, he said, we can detect them before they become more serious."
At the time, Dr. Sarris worked for Bon Secours, and he took his proposal to management, which agreed to sponsor the testing. In return, Bon Secours would be allowed advertise on ODU athletic outlets, including the odusports.com web site.
Before that deal was consummated, Sarris left Bon Secours for Sentara and made the same proposal to management there. "We wanted to go where Dr. Sarris was," Selig said.
Sarris said "I pitched it to the Sentara administration, and they thought it was a great idea. But they also said, 'Let's not take the advertising. Let's just do it for the community benefit.' "
Sentara does not charge ODU or the athletes for the service.
"I basically take vacation days to do this," Dr. Sarris said. "Sentara donates the staff time and use of equipment.
"Sentara has always given to the community and sometimes they do things behind the scenes. Their philosophy has been we don't need to tell people this is what we do because this is something we want to do."
Imo Essien was able to return to play more quickly last season because he had been pre-screened.
Johnson said the relationship built over the years with Sentara has provided benefits beyond the testing. Johnson's entire training staff has Dr. Sarris's cell number, as well as the numbers of other doctors at Sentara.
"Our relationship with Dr. Sarris has been invaluable," Johnson said. "We can call him basically at any time and say we've got an athlete who needs to be seen and he'll make arrangements to see that athlete.
"We don't run on a normal schedule in athletics. Things have to be done ASAP because it could affect somebody's career, their playing time or their team. So, we want to get to the bottom of whatever's going on as quickly as possible.
"You can't begin to put into words how important that is to us."
It was especially important during the pandemic when every athlete diagnosed with COVID had to receive a full range of cardiac testing in order to be cleared to compete again. ODU was able to schedule the testing quickly through Sentara.
Since the pandemic, Dr. Sarris said the medical field has been hit with a wave of retirements and resignations and wait times for appointments are much longer than they were pre-COVID. He has been able to cut through the bureaucracy to help athletes get seen more quickly.
"If I've got somebody who needs to be seen by another specialist," Dr. Sarris said, "I can call someone and say, 'Hey, I've got this kid and he needs to be seen right away. Can you do me a favor?'
"The answer is almost ways, 'Yeah, bring him in.' "
Johnson said the partnership may be expanded to other areas, something that makes sense given the coming merger of ODU and Eastern Virginia Medical School, an agreement that will include financial support from Sentara and the use of Sentara facilities and staff.
"We've had some conversations with people over there about how they would like to have more of a footprint within our athletic department and in the University," he said.
"Sentara has been a fantastic partner. We want to do anything we can to strengthen the relationship."
Contact Minium at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
Minium: Sentara, Dr. George Sarris Have Generously Been Providing Cardiac Testing for ODU Athletes since 2017
