NFL to honor Lt. Col. Valerie Sams, Air Force surgeon who helped save Bills player Damar Hamlin
The NFL plans to honor an Air Force trauma surgeon who helped save the life of Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin after he went into cardiac arrest during a Monday Night Football game in Cincinnati on Jan. 2.
Lt. Col. Valerie Sams and several colleagues from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where Hamlin was treated, will be recognized Thursday.
Sams was part of the medical staff during the game between the Bills and Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium when Hamlin’s heart stopped.
“We respond to all trauma activations. I responded to the arrival, coordinated all of the care with the team to get him admitted,” Sams told the Dayton Daily News.
Hamlin has made a speedy recovery since the incident, and he was also recognized during Super Bowl week.
On Wednesday, Hamlin received the 2023 Alan Page Community Award winner, one of the highest honors given by the NFL Players Association, to recognize community service.
Hamlin’s GoFundMe toy drive fundraiser raised more than $8.6 million in donations while he was hospitalized.
“It’s very rare for people to have such a good outcome with an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. And the reason is, it’s where they are,” Sams said.
“To have that care immediately available to him on the field was crucial because of the timing. Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation or CPR is really the one thing that improves people’s chances of surviving an event like that.”
According to the report, Sams is assigned to the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine. She works at the UC Medical Center as a surgeon and director of their Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills (C-STARS) program, and training in UC’s Critical Care Air Transport course.