Photo/Illutration Yuri Hosokawa, left, and Mana Otomo, who started the “SAFE (Sugadaira AED for Everyone)” project (Provided by Yuri Hosokawa)

Sprawling rugby fields in the Sugadaira Highlands in Nagano Prefecture, where players descend from across the nation for summer training, are now equipped with portable medical devices to deal with a sudden cardiac arrest.

The automated external defibrillators (AEDs) were distributed to all 105 rugby fields on the famed training camp site in July following an incident the previous summer.

In August last year, a member of a university rugby team suffered cardiac arrest during a practice match in an athletic park managed by a local municipality.

By chance, the referee was a cardiac surgeon, and an AED was available at the park’s office nearby. The stricken player was saved by quick first aid treatment.

But many other rugby fields in Sugadaira, typically managed by traditional ryokan inns, are located far from those inns where AEDs are available.

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A training session in Sugadaira on how to use an automated external defibrillator (Provided by Mana Otomo)

“The incident made ryokan operators realize that a similar case could occur on their grounds at any time,” said Yuri Hosokawa, 34, an associate professor of sport science at Waseda University’s Faculty of Sport Sciences.

She started a project to equip rugby fields in Sugadaira with AEDs with Mana Otomo, 33, a researcher at the Japan Institute of Sports Sciences. The project is called “SAFE,” short for “Sugadaira AED for Everyone.”

The survival rate is said to decline by 10 percent per minute after a person suffers a cardiac arrest.

Trainers and doctors often do not accompany rugby teams of junior and senior high school students.

Hosokawa and Otomo reached out to the Japan Rugby Football Union, which secured funds for the project.

A total of 105 AEDs were leased out to ryokan operators for use on their grounds. A training session was held on how to use the devices.

“Many people wanted to make Sugadaira safer and provided help,” Otomo said.

Hosokawa said, “Having the devices in place will raise people’s awareness about life-saving efforts.”

Teruhiko Yamaguchi, who heads a group of 44 ryokan inns with rugby fields, voiced his appreciation.

“AEDs are expensive, and it was difficult for us to equip our grounds with them without help,” he said.

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