National Football League fans watching last Monday night’s game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals witnessed a horrific scene as the Bills’ Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest after making a tackle. As of this writing, Hamlin is in critical condition in the University of Cincinnati medical center, and his family reports his recovery seems to be moving in a positive direction.

What was not immediately apparent to those watching the scene unfold Monday night was that Hamlin not only received cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but an automated external defibrillator was used to restore his heartbeat. The presence of that device, and people who understood how to use it, likely saved Hamlin’s life.

A West Virginia mother whose son lost his own life spoke to WOWK about the importance of AEDs.

“He was playing and he sat down and he just fell backward and started convulsing. His heart stopped,” said Kristy Ray, of Ranger. “We didn’t have an AED. It took 15 minutes for an ambulance to get there, but we did perform CPR to no avail. It didn’t help.”

Her son was at soccer practice. He was just 8 years old.

Ray channeled her grief into founding “The Live Like Caleb Foundation,” which educates about heart conditions and raises money to buy AEDs for local organizations.

“When you have pain like that you don’t want anyone else to experience that pain so we do what we can to make sure no other parent has to live through this,” she told the news station.

Stadiums, practice facilities, schools, theaters and auditoriums … that’s just the start of the kinds of places that should have AEDs. They should be installed in facilities with the same kind of regularity as fire extinguishers and first aid kits. If the loss of young people like Caleb has not been enough to spur such a change, perhaps what happened to Hamlin will do the trick.

Whatever it takes, it’s time to make sure this life-saving tool is available wherever and whenever it is needed.