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Upstate readies athletic staff at area colleges to handle game-time emergencies

Upstate’s Emergency Medicine Simulation and Training Center is teaming up with local colleges to provide athletic personnel hands on training to deal with game-time emergencies.

 Though athletic staffs are trained to respond to emergencies, they don’t always have the opportunity to get hands on practice, said Stan Goettel, MA PA/IR.

“Getting that hands on practice periodically is so important,” said Goettel, director of Strategic Initiatives and Performance Improvement. “That’s why this is a good marriage because we have the tools to do that. My team is designed to train people how to save lives in a crisis event. It is helpful to go through these scenarios and think about how you can improve your processes.”

Over the summer, Upstate worked with members of Syracuse University’s athletic trainers, physicians and staff, along with JMA Wireless Dome staff and ambulance staff, to simulate emergency situations that included various types of injuries to both players and spectators.

Goettel said the training had four teams of responders doing two different themed scenarios, including spinal injury, head injury and a cardiac arrest scenario. For the head injury for example, staff had to get the players’ helmet off and get them on a backboard.

“How do you pick them up and move them and work as a unit to do that?” he said. “Those were the core fundamental skills we were looking for. It was great to watch them expand their thinking and bring additional ideas to the scenario.”

To make it as realistic as possible, he said SU staff had music blasting through the dome speakers, to try to simulate the noise level of a football game. For an exercise that involved hemorrhage control, one of Goettel’s staff created a device that spurted fake blood everywhere.

Goettel said these types of trainings are becoming more prevalent after the Damar Hamlin incident last fall. Hamlin went into cardiac arrest during a Buffalo Bills game and doctors credit the quick action of the Bills trainers with saving his life.

“He might not be alive today if not for the trainers getting to him so quickly,” Goettel said.

Next up, he adds, will be arena specific trainings at SU, including the ice hockey rink and soccer fields. Upstate will also provide the same training to staff at area colleges. Goettel said his goal is to then set up trainings that local high school staff can attend.

“We are committed to making sure that our community is healthy and safe,” he said.

Caption: Syracuse University athletic personnel take part in emergency scenarios for handling.

 

 

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