Four Pennsylvania High Schools Receive National Athletic Trainers' Association Safe Sports School Award
Harrisburgh, PA (PRWEB) June 10, 2014 -- The National Athletic Trainers’ Association’s (NATA) Safe Sports School Award is a prestigious recognition of a high school and the athletic trainers who work at the school. Four more schools in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have been awarded this honor this spring. The award is given to schools that have a set emergency action plan. They have plans for not only athletic emergencies but also for environmental emergencies. Coaches, athletic trainers, and emergency personal must rehearse these plans.
These four schools are spread across the state. Central York High School (York, PA), Keystone Oaks High School (Pittsburgh, PA), Mechanicsburg High School (Mechanicsburg, PA), and Plum High School (Pittsburgh, PA) were the recipients of the NATA Safe School Award. All of the schools received the high honor of the first team Safe School distinction.
Ryan Kesterhold LAT, ATC of Plum High School reported “Lauren Bence LAT, ATC and I printed out the document and we went over the questions. We were pretty much doing everything that was in there.” He went on to say that “I think that it shows we are committed to providing excellent care for student athletes.” Each athletic trainer noted how it proves their commitment to providing the best medical care they can to the student athletes of their high schools.
Emergency action plans can be general or very specific. Each school can have different amounts of information in it. Sandy Zettlemoyer of Mechanicsburg High School in Mechanicsburg, PA noted that they had to make very few changes to their emergency action plan to win this award. “We have a comprehensive plan and standard operating procedures for our coaches and athletes. We go so far to have a round table discussion with other emergency personal to evaluate preparedness for emergency situations. “
Rick Guinan LAT, ATC and Krysta Senbach MS LAT ATC of Central York High School were presented with the award. “We were presented the award at an assembly through the York Revolution independent pro baseball team; we got the award in front of the baseball crowd and 700 people of Central York High School.”
President-Elect John Moyer LAT, ATC, a safe school award recipient himself commented “PATS is very proud of all the secondary school athletic trainers being selected for an NATA Safe Sports School Award. (The) NATA Safe Sports School Award shows a commitment by the school administration and the athletic training staff of each school to provide the safest environment for the safety of their athletes.”
For more information regarding this topic or to schedule an interview with PATS President Yvette Ingram, PhD, LAT, ATC, please contact Linda Mazzoli MS, LAT, ATC, PATS Executive Director at patsexecutivedirector(at)gopats(dot)org.
The Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers' Society, Inc. is a progressive organization of licensed health care professionals who work under the direction of a licensed physician. Our society continues to increase public awareness and education regarding Athletic Trainers and the Athletic Training profession while serving as the premier source of information for public safety, injury and illness prevention, early intervention, patient care, and healthcare delivery for the physically active in the Commonwealth.
“The Keystone to a Healthy and Physically Active Life”
Mike Prybicien, District 2 National Athletic Trainers Association, http://www.natad2.org/, +1 (201) 788-2961, [email protected]
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