NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — Following the death of a 16-year-old girl at Menchville High School last week, Virginia lawmakers are pushing for a cardiac emergency response plan, or CERP, to be required by every school in the Commonwealth.

SB181 was first introduced by State Sen. Aaron Rouse of Virginia Beach in January. It was inspired by the NFL’s response to Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin going into cardiac arrest during a game last year.

That swift response and immediate CPR saved his life. Rouse told 10 On Your Side after hearing about the death of Kaleiah Jones that it reinforces the importance of schools being prepared to handle a cardiac emergency.

“Schools may have AED’s in place, teachers and nurses may be CPR-certified,” Rouse said, “but without an actual plan in place to follow through and use those devices and hands-only CPR to save lives, you can have tragic situations such as this.”

A tragic situation for 16-year-old Kaleiah Jones, she fainted in the hallway at Menchville High School last Tuesday and died on her way to the hospital.

Her family told us after reviewing security video that Jones did not receive CPR until nine minutes after she went down, although the school nurse was at her side within two minutes and had been previously informed of Jones’ health situation by Jones herself, along with paperwork submitted by her family. Jones had bradycardia and long QT syndrome.

“I’m sad,” Rouse said. “It’s somber and I wish there was a way that this bill could have been — [that] we could have heard this bill last year.”

Jones’ mom, Keyonna Stewart, told 10 On Your Side that Kaleiah’s cardiologist met with Rouse on the day of her death and talked about the importance of CERP in every school.

“Four to five minutes — the doctor said if she would have had help within that time, she would be here with us today,” Stewart told 10 On Your Side last Friday during a candlelight vigil for her daughter.

Dr. John Phillips, a pediatric cardiologist and director of pediatric electrophysiology with Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU who had Kaleiah Jones as a patient,” said after four minutes without CPR, the survival rate “gets pretty poor.”

“The survival rate out of hospitals with the sudden cardiac arrest of children is 7.8% so really, really low,” Phillips said. “We need to educate everybody about what sudden cardiac arrest looks like, the symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest and then we need to train them in how to do hands-only CPR.

“We need to educate them about what an automated external defibrillator is, what it looks like, how it works, the safety measures that can be taken to ensure it works appropriately and then lastly, and this occurs in the hospital as well, is practice.”

In addition to supporting SB181, Phillips serves as the medical director for the Virginia affiliate of Project ADAM (Automated Defibrillators in Adam’s Memory). Project ADAM started in 1999 after the death of 17-year-old Adam Lemel. Lemel collapsed and died while playing basketball after sudden cardiac arrest. An AED would have saved his life. Virginia schools are required by law to have at least one AED. Menchville High School has three.

Jones’ family is pushing to call SB181 Kaleiah’s Law or Project Kaleiah in her memory. Rouse told us that, with her family’s blessing, he would love to name the law after her if it passes.

“I am evermore emboldened to get this bill passed,” said Rouse, who is working alongside the American Heart Association to require CERP in schools. “It passed unanimously out of the subcommittee [Tuesday] in the House, so it’s on its way to the floor and hopefully on its way to becoming law in the Commonwealth.

“Our prayers and thoughts are with the family, and that this piece of legislation will hopefully, hopefully prevent any other tragic loss due to sudden cardiac arrest within our schools and communities.”

You can read more about the AHA’s CERP guidelines here.