Damage control

Friday, September 26, 2008

The following article was intended to be an in-depth look at the daily roles and responsibilities of two Hopkins County athletic trainers. Madisonville-North Hopkins athletic trainer Kevin Jones, employed by Trover Health System’s Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation program, was interviewed for this article, but unfortunately collapsed before a soccer game and later died Sept. 16.

For every Hopkins County high school athlete, there are typically concerned parents praying their child gets through another game without injury.

This fall, athletic trainers Jason Carl and Kevin Jones patrolled the sidelines at each North and Central home event, working to answer the prayer by providing injury prevention and quality first response care.

The two trainers worked for Trover Health System’s Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation program, but held most of their “office hours” at the campuses of Hopkins County Central and Madisonville-North Hopkins High Schools.

Carl handled the duties at Central and Jones took care of the North athletes, but both worked as many as 70 hours over a six-day work week.

“It’s part of the job, I knew that when I went into it,” Carl said. “You don’t necessarily do it for the pay. You know you’re going to work hours.

“I don’t see my kids every night, but I see them a couple nights...It’s not bad, it’s to be expected as far as the fall season.”

Each day, the athletic trainers began at the sports medicine clinic and worked from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. before heading to their respective schools. Once school dismissed, the trainers prepared for practices or games by starting with treatments and tapings.

During games, trainers offer their services to visiting teams, but football teams usually bring their own trainer. If a school opts to bring a trainer, it is the trainer’s duty to make sure they know where all supplies and facilities are located.

Sports medicine interim director Kevin Moser oversees the work of each of the program’s trainers, and described the group’s mission.

“We try to offer medical management for the athlete that gets hurt and their parents, so that the only choice is not the emergency room but rather help them through and be able to have a better dollar spent, if you will, for the value of what they want,” he said.

“When the child’s hurt, mom and dad just want to take care of them. If they know we will manage with ice and whatever else is needed that night and then tomorrow we get them in to see our team physicians, that’s what they want.”

With their 18 years of combined experience at Trover, Carl and Jones understood the program’s goals.

Trover provides athletic training services to eight schools in five counties; Central, North, Dawson Springs, University Heights Academy, Ft. Campbell, Caldwell County, Webster County, and McLean County.

With trainers at each of the schools, communication is a great asset when monitoring athletes.

“If I don’t see (Jason) in the clinic that day he’ll call me and say, ‘so and so needs to be taped, or you might need to look at him before the game,’” Jones said. “‘He got injured yesterday, maybe take a look at him if you feel he’s good to go.’ With the heat index we’ll coordinate that as well. If I get something over the heat index then I’ll call him and let him know what I got and vice versa.”

Carl said he and Jones called each other at the end of the night to relay information on injuries.

Trainers also check in with coaches before and after practices or games to make sure everyone has the same information.

Although Carl answered questions during a Central soccer game, his focus remained on the field for potential collisions.

“The time when you really start to relax is when something happens,” he said. “That’s how it always seems whether it’s baseball or basketball. If you’re relaxing that’s when something will probably happen, that’s just how it seems to happen that way.”

One of Carl’s most trying moments occurred during the very end of a baseball game.

“Two players collided, the first baseman and rightfielder,” he said. “I was getting ice at the time. It was about the end of the game, we were down to one out left, so I was grabbing some ice, getting it ready and they were like, ‘Hey!’”

One of the players had to be placed on a spineboard, life flighted to Evansville and was non-responsive for five to six hours.

In such instances, keeping the injured athlete still is the most important task, Jones said.

“You just do whatever you can to calm them, do whatever you can to relax them, especially if you suspect a back injury,” Jones said. “You don’t want them freaking out or cause them to move. You just do whatever you can to try and relax them as much as you can until we can get them strapped down on the board.”

One Central football player who is familiar with Carl’s office is quarterback Jake Powell.

Powell took a hard hit during Central’s annual contest with North in 2007.

“When I got knocked out, they made sure my back was lined up and stuff like that before games, made sure I didn’t have a concussion,” he said.

During the Storm’s 63-0 season-opening romp against Fulton County on Aug. 30, Powell injured his hand and required Carl’s attention again.

As Powell prepared in practice to take on Trigg County, he worked with a taped hand, but showed his comfort.

“Oh, it’s fine, they do a good job,” he said. “See I can move my hand. My wrist is supported.”

Another Central football player, Quentin Gordon, received a bit of Carl’s care during the team’s game Sept. 6 against North.

Gordon, a defensive tackle, said he tried to make a quick cut to the left while in pursuit of the ball when he heard his knee pop.

“They got out there pretty fast and (began) asking what’s wrong,” Gordon said.

While some athletes may not be familiar with Carl, Gordon said he has a strong relationship with him.

“I look as him as a friend because I’ve been with him for baseball and just joke around with him all the time,” Gordon said. “We just joked around and are always eating sunflower seeds and peanuts.”

Establishing relationships with the players can go a long way for comfort level when a trainer has to treat an athlete.

The Trover sports medicine staff knows how much a positive relationship means when treating high-school athletes and tries to establish such ties before injury even occurs.

“What I push is communication, and that starts with the pre-season parent meetings (coaches) may have,” Moser said. “We ask to be a part of those and the coaches all support us with that....You quickly have to identify those new kids, mostly freshman, and be able to say, ‘Hi, I am...’ because they won’t even know sometimes.’

Trover also does weekly injury checks for middle school football players as a way for the athletes to be familiar with the trainer by the time he or she enters high school where injuries are more prevalent.

Trover’s physicians and nurses also perform free athletic physicals each May to build rapport and stress injury prevention.

Last May, 1,400 children showed up for physicals on three different dates in Hopkinsville, Princeton and Madisonville.

Another preventative measure taken by Trover is providing each school with coolers and water bottles.

North girls’ soccer coach Steve Shepard said one of the biggest perks of having the trainers is their attention to care for even the most minor injuries.

“You’re constantly getting somebody hurt – somebody is twisting an ankle, or shin splints, pulled groin or quad,” he said. “Those four, we see them constantly and they’re not that big of a deal, but it’s nice to say, ‘sit down, we’ll get you some ice, or walk you over to the trainer.’ It gives us a little more security.

“You think to ask one or two that have the severe injuries, but the little tweaks and knocks that they get, you can’t always keep up with it.”

Central football coach Rick Snodgrass said it’s nice to have a trainer on hand because of the pressure put on coaches and players to focus on the task at hand.

“We know that if they go down and they’re injured that they’re going to get them back to us when they’re capable and able to get back on the field,” he said. “We know that they’re going to see that they’re treated and treated properly.”

Although football might come to mind when thinking of sports with the highest injury rates, soccer boasts its fair share.

“The percentage of injuries for soccer are pretty decent,” Carl said. “Football, they’re a little bit more of a collision sport, but soccer is definitely a contact sport and there isn’t the equipment there.”

Shepard agreed with Carl’s statement and testified he has been witness to some gruesome soccer injuries.

“It’s basically football without the pads and there can be some crazy injuries,” Shepard said. “I’ve seen some nasty stuff on the soccer field when there were no trainers and somebody had to sit there and wait for an ambulance. Now, even though you may have to wait for an ambulance, at least you have someone who is right there that can stabilize players.”

No matter the sport or injury, or even local school, parents can rest assured their child will be in good care with one of Trover’s athletic trainers on site.

“My goal is to do a couple things – obviously it’s prevention of injuries, but it’s also the evaluation of injuries when they happen,” Carl said. “I try to be an advocate for the athletes, but be an intermediary between coaches, athletes, the parents, physicians if we need that, making sure we get the right type of care there.”