Letter to the Editor: Athletic Trainers and the care they Provide for student athletes in your community

Social Circle City Schools and Walnut Grove High School have coaches hired through the Playsafe program

Athletic trainers are health care professionals who render medical services or treatments, under the direction of a physician, in accordance with their education and training and the states statutes, rules and regulations.  

The importance of athletic trainers and the care they provide has been proven time and time again when athletic injuries occur.  As health care providers, athletic trainers have the foundational skill set and education to manage challenging and unpredictable situations when they occur.  Some of the medical services that athletic trainers provide include injury prevention, wellness protection, examination, assessment and diagnosis of injuries, therapeutic intervention and health care administration.  Each of these areas are utilized in the care and prevention of athletic injuries. 

Athletic trainers in the secondary school setting provide a unique and unbiased continuum of care for student athletes and serve as a critical link between patients, coaches, teachers, school administration, parents, and other health care providers.  Athletic training services to schools are not funded by the state.  This funding barrier often determines whether a school can afford to provide these much-needed services or not.  This is the reason PlaySafe, a 501c3 non-profit organization, was developed and exists.  PlaySafe helps to identify funding opportunities through partnerships in your community to help afford and maintain these services.

Sierra Nix, ATC at Social Circle High School and Megan Mercer, ATC at Walnut Grove High School are employed by PlaySafe to provide daily medical coverage for practices and games.  Megan and Sierra facilitate the proper care needed when an athletic injury occurs, providing complete care from the initial onset of injury to the athlete’s return to play following the injury.  Whether it is sprains, strains, bumps, scrapes, or something more serious such as a sudden cardiac event, concussion, fracture or cervical spine injury, athletes are in capable hands when an athletic trainer is present to care for and/or prevent these injuries while participating in sports.

Get to know the athletic trainer at your school and ask Sierra or Megan how you can help to keep the services they provided in your community.  Visit www.playsafeusa.org to learn more about PlaySafe’s mission and the efforts to maintain these valuable services to the student athletes we serve.  

PlaySafe USA