Ready and Able

 

I’ve gotten soft in my old age. I mean, I’ve always been a pretty emotional guy—It’s just gotten worse.

Forget Marley and Me—I’ll often get all emotional because the underdog wins, or the couple made for each other get together. 

I had an episode recently where a young athlete that I’ve gotten close to injured her knee.  She had already been here for long rehab on one knee, only to injure the other one.  I was off that afternoon but came back to examine her knee.

When I walked into our reception area, where she sat distraught, it was all I could do to keep from crying with her.  Truth be known, I did choke up quite a bit and maybe leaked a little bit of tears.

One of the things about physical therapists and athletic trainers (and occupational therapists and speech therapists too) is that we really care about our patients.  And we get quite close to them as well.

Even a surgeon might see a patient just a handful of times, but in rehab, we may see them three times a week for several weeks.  We have more opportunity to really get to know our patients and our athletes. 

I was working a soccer match recently when one of our players was injured.  This happened just a few feet in front of me, and from his scream, I knew it was bad.

I jumped up and didn’t wait for the referee to signal me onto the field.  I was there within seconds of the injury, assessing the situation, and quickly deciding that he had a serious injury. 

Athletic Trainers and Sports Physical Therapists prepare for that moment.  We hate it and when one of our athletes gets hurt, we hurt too. But we are trained to know what to do, we quickly go in emergency care mode, and do what is necessary to protect the athlete and make almost instantaneous decisions.

For this young soccer player, it was clear what to do—immobilize him and call for an ambulance.  All of our schools have an Emergency Action Plan (EAP) and put that into action once an injury calls for it.

First and foremost, we make sure the athlete is stabilized. We either call 911 or have someone trusted to make the call, making sure that they tell the operator that we have a medical emergency and that we will need transport to the hospital.

When it is an event where we have student trainers, the EAP is automatic.  Everyone knows what to do and everyone has a job.  We send someone to direct the ambulance to the entrance and to where they can park to best do the job. We inform the parents of what is going on.

If the injury requires splinting or special equipment, we’ve got that with us.  All of our folks carry a complete array of things we might need, including an AED. 

We work hard to be prepared, to anticipate every contingency, and to execute the plan that is in the best interest of the injured athlete.  School officials understand and cooperate.  Game officials understand and wait patiently. Fans and parents do what they can—pray and hope for a good outcome.

It’s the worst part of the job and yet it’s the most essential part of the job. We practice regularly to be good at what we do. We want to be ready and able.