This year the National Athletic Training Month slogan is “ATs are Health Care.” This promotes athletic training because it reinforces the idea that we are more than just water and tape. We do so much more and it really makes people think about all the things we do. I like the fact that they use AT instead of athletic trainer because it is easy to say and also gets rid of the mind set of people calling us trainers. The slogan is also modified this year to where it can say “ATs are Performance Health Care” and “ATs are Military Health Care” and other slogans. I like the fact that they did this also because it lets people know we are everywhere and we help more than just sports. It makes us seem more diverse of health care clinicians.
The way I have been embodying this slogan is when people ask me what I major in I tell them everything we are capable of and all the places we can work. Usually, people are impressed by how much we are able to do and I am able to give them a new perspective on athletic training. I have done this a couple times. One time I was put on the spot by a faculty member of Emory & Henry College to tell a CEO of one of the software the school uses about athletic training. He had no idea what it was and he was happy to know more about what I did. Other times I promote athletic training are when I have been strict with coaches and teachers who ask if there is a trainer around. I kindly correct them. Usually, they want something for me and I can make it a joke and I will say, “I’ll get it for you if you say AT or Athletic trainer.” Then they laugh and most of the time they don’t do it again when I am around. Some things that the program is doing to promote Athletic training month is creating videos to be played on campus and on social medias. I am going to be making a video talking about my summer internship with a performing arts group to show how important it is to have health care for those individuals. I believe this slogan is a really good one that can get a lot of people on board with the message and It makes people think about the care they get from athletic trainers.
0 Comments
This week I was doing clinical hours for a softball game. We were waiting for the away team to arrive. We had received extensive care plans for the athletes to do before the game. Unfortunately, their bus broke down on the way and we had limited time to treat the away team. We met them outside to tape them on the benches and then they went to warm up. These’ s girls were already grateful for the athletic training staff. Many of them made comments that we are awesome and we do really great taping and we actually care for them, instead of other colleges who do poor jobs just to get them through. The girls continued to mention how many of their teammates had been injured throughout the week in pretty tragic ways. One had a patella dislocation while batting, a few had sprained their ankles, and four got into a car accident where they were lucky to get a few scratches and concussions. Needless to say they had gone through a rough week. They were looking forward to this game however and they were in high spirits. I had volunteered to be in the away dug out for the first game. Things were going smoothly. They had a good lead through most of the game. Then another one of their teammates had a serious injury. She hit a double and slid into second base. Next thing I know she was screaming and not getting up. The certified athletic trainer and I quickly ran out to her and we saw a gross malalignment of her ankle. It was clear she had dislocated and a had various fractures of her lower leg. The head athletic trainer held her stable while I splinted her and had the coaches call 9-1-1. After she was splinted, I ran out to the road to go wave down the ambulance. They got to the field quickly and transported her to the hospital where they relocated her and she was sent home for surgery. The rest of the day was emotional for the girls. This is definitely one of the more intense injuries I have been able to assist and I was left on edge. The way I stayed calm was the fact that I knew I did everything right and the girl is going to be okay. While it is unfortunate the girl had such a bad injury, I am grateful I was able to experience this before I graduated. If I ever see it again, I will be more experienced now and I will be able to help my athlete better the next time this happen.
|
This is where I do my weekly clinical blog assignment. There is either a prompt I am responding to, or I just talk about something exciting I saw during the week.
Archives
April 2019
|