DENHAM SPRINGS — It was a humid September afternoon in 2020 when Remy Hidalgo and his football teammates practiced on the Denham Springs High School football field. Remy’s mom, Ashley Roberson, sat and watched part of the practice from her car, as she normally did.
Roberson left to go pick up her daughters from their practice before football practice ended. It was near the end of practice when Hidalgo’s coaches noticed he wasn’t keeping up like he normally would.
Hidalgo was sent to go to the locker room, but before he could get there, he collapsed on the field. At 16 years old, Remy Hidalgo had a heat stroke.
His mom had only just gotten home when she got the call to get back to the football field.
Roberson said the people who were present did what they could to help her son, whose body temperature was above 106 degrees. Hidalgo had been in a cooling tub for about 15 before he was transported to Our Lady of the Lake Hospital by ambulance.
He was at OLOL for a day before he was transported to New Orleans Children’s to receive life support treatment to give his organs rest. However, the prognosis was grim.
Hidalgo passed away just after 3 a.m. on Sept. 18, 2020.
The young lineman was known for his kind nature and being supportive of his friends. Roberson said she didn’t realize how big of an impact her son had until he had passed and students and adults continuously told her how Hidalgo had treated them.
“He was always very loving, very caring about other people. It was very important for him. He never left a room without telling (his friends) he loved them, no matter if it was a boy or girl,” Roberson recalled.
He was also a good student, with a 3.7 GPA, she said. Hidalgo worked hard at everything he did, from football to schoolwork and the relationships he had with others.
“Remy loves that school. He was very proud to be from and go to Denham, and he loved his coaches. There’s no other place he wanted to be but on that football field,” Roberson said.
The importance of cooling & body temperature
Since Remy’s death, Roberson has researched and found that after a heat stroke, the length of time in a cooling tub is paramount in determining the victim’s prognosis. Hidalgo’s body temperature was around 106 degrees when he was taken to the hospital, but had he been in a tub for 15 more minutes (30 minutes total), he likely would have lived, she said.
“You have about 30 minutes to get them in a cooling tub or something to get them cooled down and get their body temperature below 104 for them to survive,” she explained. A rectal thermometer is the more accurate measurement of body temperature.
For heat stroke, the method is cooling the body down first, before any hospital transportation. Even if an ambulance arrives, a person should reach a cooler internal body temperature before leaving.
Making a difference in honor of Remy Hidalgo
The Remy Hidalgo Memorial Foundation helps raise funds for safety equipment and spreads awareness about heat strokes in sports. Roberson said the foundation started after she reached out to other parents who had lost their children in similar scenarios. The Jordan McNair Foundation and Zach Martin Foundation were two of the foundations she reached out to.
“I’m trying to be like Remy and be a better person for everybody,” Roberson said of her desire to help create a foundation in honor of her son and contribute to programs that need help due to lack of funding and resources.
The Remy Hidalgo Foundation’s funds go toward providing schools and athletic programs with items like large, 150-gallon tubs to be used for cooling players down or other safety equipment. So far, they have been able to donate 30 tubs to different programs.
On the foundation’s Facebook page is a fundraiser to donate more tubs. The currently raised amount is enough to purchase four tubs so far.
The foundation also helps donate other items that can be paramount for keeping athletes safe in the heat and humidity. The wet bulb globe thermometer is one item. It offers a more accurate reading of the weather temperature and conditions and how those can affect the human body.
“Whatever that number shows, it tells the trainer they should be practicing only this amount of time today,” Roberson explained.
Legislation was also changed after Hidalgo’s death to have coaches and trainers participate in yearly training for medical emergencies and to have a plan.
The Remy Hidalgo Act ensures schools, coaches and athletic trainers have an emergency action plan in place for medical incidents like when an athlete passes out on the field from heat. Specific items must be on site in case of emergency and all involved should know where those items are located so they can be used in a timely manner depending on the medical event.
As a mother, Roberson encourages both students and their parents to advocate for their health and safety. If you feel unwell at practice or in a game, don’t be afraid to speak up. Pay attention to your body and say something, she said.
Roberson said the foundation is one of the biggest things that helps her keep moving forward every day, knowing she’s continuing her son’s legacy and helping others.
“I do it because I don’t want another parent to feel the way I feel. Because there’s nothing worse than losing your child.”
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