SportsEvents Magazine

SEP 2015

SportsEvents is edited for those who plan tournaments or other sports events.

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www.sportseventsmagazine.com September 2015 17 GAME Plan t and sports medicine specialist based in Charleston, S.C., has been the doctor on the scene at a number of high-profle sports events. He served as chief tourna- ment physician for the Family Circle Cup women's professional tennis tournament for seven years and was a physician for USA Rugby and the U.S. women's nation- al soccer team during their appearances in Charleston. First and foremost, he advised, sports events planners should always have an action plan in place for dealing with medi- cal emergencies and other critical injuries. "It's essential to have a communication system in place with the offcials, coaches and other team administrators as to where emergency vehicles and staff are located and which hospital injured people will be transported to," he said. He further explained that medical aid stations should be easily identifed by appropriate signs or colored fags and clearly marked on any maps available. "Security personnel, ushers, offcials, ticket-takers and concession personnel all need to know the location of all aid stations. Any literature given out at the event should contain information on how to obtain medical care, the location of the medical aid stations, and the telephone number of the aid stations." When sports events are held in remote locations, Geier advised that planners make sure cellular service is reliable and, if not, arrange for another type of commu- nication system and make it available to all participants. Geier added that planners should, if at all possible, have automatic emergency defbrillators (AEDs) on site and make sure all participants and spectators are pro- vided with information about where they are located. Additionally, he advised plan- ners to have head immobilization equip- ment and cervical collars readily available. "It's also important that planners be prepared for less critical types of injuries, which they are more likely to encounter," Geier said. He recommended having on hand such items as bandages, braces, crutches, epinephrine auto-injectors (epi pens), heating and cooling equipment. Geier acknowledged that it's not always possible to have a physician on site at sports events, due to cost and avail- ability. In these situations, he said, it's very important to have an athletic trainer at the event to diagnose the problem, eval- uate the extent of the injury and arrange for treatment with emergency medical personnel. n For More Information: n The American College of Emergency Physicians www.acep.org n National Athletic Trainers Association www.nata.org n Dr. David Geier www.drdavidgeier.com n Dr. Robert Glatter www.dr911md.com

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