Audio captures Damar Hamlin emergency response: ‘We’re going to need everybody’

After Buffalo Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field Monday night, medical personnel can be heard calling for everyone to help on radio traffic recordings, underscoring the severity of Hamlin’s condition.

Hamlin collapsed on the field seconds after he tackled a Cincinnati Bengals player Monday. He immediately received medical attention from doctors and athletic trainers before getting taken away in an ambulance.

“I don’t like how he went down,” one person said on a radio channel recording published by The New York Times Thursday.

In the seconds after Hamlin’s collapse, medical personnel can be heard calling for more medics in the recordings as they realized the gravity of the situation.

“We’re going to need everybody,” one person said on the radio channel. “All-call, all-call!”

“Call, bring everybody,” another person said on the channel. “We need an airway doctor, everybody. Bring the cot with the medics.”

Hamlin suffered from cardiac arrest on the field, leading medical personnel to perform CPR on him. On the audio recordings, one person is heard calling for a medical attachment that measures carbon dioxide levels to determine how well a person is breathing.

When told that the attachment is on its way, the person calling for it responds, “Yeah, you need to step it up.”

In the minutes after the ambulance left the field, the radio traffic revealed that emergency responders needed assistance inside the vehicle. The radio traffic also captured how local law enforcement expected the ambulance to leave the field immediately, but it actually did not leave the stadium until about 10 minutes after leaving the field.

“I need another medic in the back,” someone is heard saying on the recording.

Medical officials said on Thursday that Hamlin is awake and has made “substantial improvement” as he recovers from his cardiac arrest. The NFL also announced Thursday that the game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals will be canceled, and that it will modify the playoffs.