BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – As statistics indicate that U.S. high school students continue to suffer from sudden cardiac events, one Louisiana lawmaker is backing a bill that would require schools to have a defibrillator on hand.

“We talk about fire safety. But I feel like we should talk about cardiac emergency response too,” said Michelle Temple, Co-Founder of Gray’s Army Foundation.

Temple lost her son, Grayson “Gray” Lane Temple, to cardiac arrest. He was a high school athlete and only 16 years old.

“He had played many years before. Always passed physicals. He was a very healthy child,” she continued.

Now, through the Gray’s Army Foundation, Temple spreads awareness about how three minutes can save someone’s life.

The Foundation teaches people how to administer hands-only CPR. But when CPR doesn’t work, a device called an automated external defibrillator can be used. It’s a machine that can revive someone from sudden cardiac arrest.

“You know, someone as young as a fourth-grader can learn how to use one,” Temple said.

Now, a senator is getting involved with the goal of stopping sudden cardiac-related deaths among students. He’s doing so by creating a law.

State Sen. Cleo Fields has pre-filed a bill that will require schools from kindergarten through college to have an AED and someone trained to use it on hand.

“In 2016. I think it was a representative Pierre who initially introduced a bill which was the right thing to do at the time. This is taking a more advanced step, picking up where he left off,” he said.

The presence of an AED is likely to increase a sufferer’s chance of survival and Fields’ new bill will require all educational institutions to have one.

“It’s all about saving lives. I mean, at the end of the day, you know, what’s the cost of a life? And so better to have it than to not have it,” he said.

Fields added that he will team up with health officials to implement rules and regulations that will ensure the devices are in operative condition.

Fields said we can expect the bill to be presented early on during the legislative session in April.