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Damar Hamlin's care providers get key to the city of Cincinnati

UCMC gets key to the city
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Posted at 12:26 PM, Jan 26, 2023
and last updated 2023-01-26 20:56:39-05

CINCINNATI — Health providers at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center were honored Thursday with a key to the city, and Cincinnati Children's Hospital received $10,000 worth of toys from Fisher-Price and Mattel, all in thanks for supporting and caring for one man: Bills safety Damar Hamlin.

On Thursday morning, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval presented a key to the city to providers on behalf of care staff across different subspecialties who contributed to the care and subsequent recovery of Hamlin after he suffered cardiac arrest on the field at Paycor Stadium while playing the Bengals.

"The immediate impact is the awareness to the community of the care we give, our teams are best in the country as everyone was able to witness over the course of the last month," said Robert Wiehe, chief operating officer at UC Health.

Just the day before, on Wednesday, Cincinnati Children's Hospital received a drop-off of $10,000 in toys, donated by Fisher Price and Mattel, both companies that partner with the Buffalo Bills.

Included in the gift was a card: "Thank you for taking such great care of Damar."

Cincinnati Children's said the Child Life team would sort and distribute the toys to children receiving care throughout the medical center.

Hamlin himself expressed his gratitude for the care staff at UCMC, tweeting not long after he awakened from a medically-induced coma, that he planned to donate proceeds from sale of a shirt to first responders and the UC Trauma Center.

The shirt featured an image of Hamlin's hands forming a heart and the quote "Did we win?" which hospital staff said was one of the first things Hamlin asked when he woke from the coma.

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