I am not a distraction

Recently, my daughter came home from school and identified she had been 'dress coded' as what she was wearing did not meet the school's policy for dress code.  At first, I didn't think much of it, however, upon deeper reflection I began to ponder the notion of the school's dress code.  I went to my school district's website and found the Student/Parent Handbook.  Within this document I was able to find the dress code.  When I reviewed it, I was quite surprised as it seems this policy is rather sexist as well as culturally insensitive.  I looked a bit more in social media to see what others had posted and came across this great video a teenager had created - I am not a distraction.  I urge you to click on the link and view.

I think we can all assume there is a viable cultural norm with regard to how one would dress professionally.  For the profession of athletic trainers, we joke of the notorious khaki pants, collared shirt, sneakers.  Know, as well, each of us will be judged and stereotyped based upon first impressions we make.  This by no means is correct and does not affirm who we are, what our values are or how well trained we are to provide care to our patients.  I hope each of you are strong in your sense of yourself as all will be judged countless times throughout one's life.  I didn't realize, however, until my daughter came home from school, judgement would begin so early in life!

come back story

I love to see the tenacity of the human spirit and coming back against all odds. Surfer's Comeback is quite astonishing considering several years ago she had her arm bitten off by a shark while she was doing what she loved - surfing.

We fast forward a few years and see this young lady not only has recovered from the physical scars, but seems also to be recovering from the emotional scars that occurred when her accident took place.  It is inspiring to see someone having to face adversity, seeming to face the problem head on and take both the good and the bad that comes along with it.  I am hopeful, that if and when faced with difficult situations that come (as they will), I too, will have the courage to face them head on and move forward.

You Are Not Alone

With technology changing the way in which we live, it should come as no surprise that someone has created an 'app' to help walk them home when they are alone.  The companion app is something one can can download for free.  While an interesting idea, I am not sure how much testing has been completed on its' use.  It does, however, seem to provide some sense of comfort for an individual, and does allow for someone to be 'watching' virtually until a person arrives at their destination.

This seems like a long way away from the day and time when we used to simply have someone walk with us!  I am sure as technology continues to develop, there will be something else that comes along as well . . . . 

Thank You

With Veteran's Day fast approaching, I wanted to post the link to these very special 'homecomings' --

Military homecomings

Too often, I think we take for granted what members of our military do for all of us on a daily basis to great cost of them personally.  As a mother of two children, I cannot imagine what it must be like for the spouses who remain back, tending to the family, while their loved one serves for us.  Nor can I understand what it must be like for the person who serves our country (and many times on more than one tour), to have to leave their families.  Finally, when I see the tears in the children's faces when their loved one comes home, I know it must be stressful for them to have their family member somewhere else, and in many times, in harms way.

Take time to enjoy the homecomings, and if you are like me, get a tissue. 

Run Like a Girl

After I watched this video, I became more acutely aware of the phrase 'like a girl' and its' negative impact it may have on girls.  As a mother of two young girls, I began to wonder if I 'buy into' the negative notion the phrase 'like a girl' can have; or am I rather, a role model demonstrating that 'like a girl' is both powerful and positive.

During this very tumultuous time with so much information being placed in front of both our boys and girls in regard to social media, my hope is that we can begin to rebuild the idea of 'like a girl' and for that matter 'like a boy' to our children.  It seems much of what we carry into our adult lives were imprinted upon us when we were children. Sometimes this is good, and at other times this can be bad. We need to work at teaching both boys and girls what it means to be kind and respectful to others as well as building their own self-esteem, self-efficacy and confidence.  Growing up can already be a difficult thing; I don't want to add more difficulty for my children.  I hope I teach my girls  'like a girl' is a badge of honor and they should wear it proudly!

Love the Bengals! Heart Warming Story

Too often, it seems, we look to the many negative stories that are in the news, our schools and our communities.  This story (click here)looks at something positive in the world of sports, that too often, we hear about the negatives -- athlete caught using drugs; athlete arrested for DWI; athlete arrested for domestic violence.

This story warms the heart, but also helps us to take pause and perhaps be thankful of our blessings, but I hope too, to keep Leah in our prayers.

Here is a quick video link:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0PG556aOfE

To Multi-sport or Not?

Being a parent of children who participate in many activities, I find it rather interesting that there is dialogue regarding participation in more than one sport activity.  This article asked college lacrosse coaches their feeling  regarding athletes who participated in more than one sport in elementary and high school.  Most coaches who were questioned supported the notion of students who did not specialize, but rather had a varied experience in athletics.  Many of the coaches felt these student-athletes were able to 'bring more to the table' than those who specialized in only one sport.  The coaches were then asked what their own children did - specialize or multi-sport?  Surprisingly, all of the coaches had their children participating in more than one sport and were happy they do.

I believe many parents are led to believe their children must become a specialist within a sport at an early age in order to remain competitive and be the best within that particular sport.  Pressure that is created from club teams can be confused with the thought of the club thinking they are creating the next professional athlete.  Parents are then led to believe, in order to do what is best for their child, must keep their children on a crazy pace.

Proponents who support the idea of multi-sport athletes have demonstrated that children who specialize in one sport are at a higher risk of injury as well as obesity.  Interesting, many college athletes were multi-sport athletes in high school.

My hope is that parents recognize that club athletics, while they have a part in assisting in the skills development of our children, should also be recognized as a business venture for the organization who is actively recruiting your child, having the family pay 'tuition' as well as traveling.  Hopefully, we can keep this in perspective and allow our children to become involved in many activities rather than just one!

Family Makes Courageous Decision

The following story identifies a controversial decision parents made regarding one of their children.  The Whittington's had two children, one of them who though born as a girl, identified as being a boy.  Through their own experience with their child as well as research, the Whittington's decided to support their child's identity and are moving forward in identifying their child as their son.

The video is a compelling one that makes me recognize the need for us as health care providers to ensure equality of care to our patients.  It may also test an individuals' personal belief system, which may conflict with their patients.  My hope would be that regardless of our patients' background including lifestyle, socio-economic status, educational level and religious practice, we would value each our patients and provide our best care possible.

A Parent's Pain

The video in this post is one that elicited quite an emotional response from me.  I cannot imagine the pain these parents went through with the death of their daughter.  It does appear, however, that through the amazing donation of their daughter's heart to another, there has been some help in progressing through their grief.  Have tissues handy, as this is a touching story . . . .

The story highlights the continuing dialogue of organ donation and how difficult the decision must be for those who are making the painful decision during the time in which their loved ones have been declared medically unable to survive.  In addition, this story also points out the conflicting feelings a donor recipient goes through in receiving the organs as they realize in order to do so, someone had to have died.

My hope would be that no one would have to go through what this family did, and that no one would have to make a heart breaking decision.  That said, we know that without people going through this pain and making the decisions they do, others would not have the opportunity to live.
 

Is College Athletics a Business?

Although this post is not in regard to a recent news article that has been posted, it is in reference to a documentary that was on Epix.  This documentary, Schooled the price of college sports, was a very interesting and eye opening video to watch.

This film chronicled the history of college athletics (more so football and basketball) as well as the creation of the NCAA.  For me, as I watched the video I was amazed to grasp the full understanding of how money seemingly is at the helm of decisions that have been made and rules and regulations that have been created and sanctioned by a governing agency - who through its' own history - took this role on themselves.

True to media form, this film does portray many times one side of the story - however, to the credit of the producers, it does appear they wanted to have current leaders within the NCAA to speak on behalf of the organization and they refused.  I have always known that sport and competition is a very large part of the American culture, I just didn't realize the extent to which, from the film's perspective, the athlete's are profited off of.  If you have a chance to view - I highly encourage and you can draw your own perspectives.

Parents Beware!

Ok - so this may be a bit late in posting as the cinnamon challenge craze seems to have come and gone, however, the reason for posting is to again help us to understand our role in educating our student-athlete patient base with regard to healthy behaviors, and how the choices we make as individuals, ultimately carry consequences.

This article identifies several reasons for youth making decisions that are not the healthiest.  With the urge to want to 'fit in' with others, pressure may be placed upon a student to ultimately do something that they either didn't want to, or felt they needed to in order to be a part of a group.  Research has also suggested the area of the brain that is responsible for decision making and risk taking is not fully developed until we reach into our 20's.  Therefore, to only speak to a student-athlete about 'right vs wrong' decisions may not be the most appropriate way to assist.

It is my belief that just as we teach our children how to navigate through cognitive skills (ie. how to solve a math problem, how to answer an essay), we also need to teach them skills which may aid them in being a healthy individual --> ie. refusal skills, conflict resolution skills, and building self-confidence to name a few.  One way to do so is to offer a comprehensive health education program within the school district taught by a qualified individual.  What we do find, however, is that schools, due to a variety of reasons (budget, philosophy, accreditation needs) may not offer a comprehensive health program.  Just as it is vital that schools who offer athletics have a qualified, licensed individual take care of the athletes' health needs, we also need to ensure there are qualified individuals to teach health. 

Additionally, as athletic trainers, we must always keep in mind we have the ability to develop an atmosphere of trust.  As such, we are placed in a precarious situation, as we can either help or hinder situations based upon what we say or by expressing our values on a situation.  We need to be sure we bear in mind that our patients may hear what we say and make a decision based upon what we have said.  Let's be sure we send out positive, thoughtful and caring messages.

Governement Shutdown - A Silent Minority at Grave Loss

As of today we are in day three of the government shutting down and although many are affected, there are some that are affected that we don't even know about.  This article highlights those who are involved in clinical trials that have funding through the government.  In this particular case, the individuals who are mentioned in this article are cancer patients.

Many of the patients have already had a difficult journey with their treatments, and as the article identifies, many were looking to the clinical trials as their last hope.  With the government in shut down mode, there will be no treatments, no interventions, nothing for them.

It is rather frustrating, as I am sure many of us are, to have this outcome for our country occur.  Another journalist, Bob Greene, reports that as Americans we should get our money back.  He writes in the article that we have no choice but to pay income tax for the very manner in having our government operate and work for us.  When it refuses to operate, we should get our money back with interest.  He uses some humor in his writing and makes an analogy of the purchase of an airline ticket.  If the airline leaves you stranded in a city (not your final destination), the individual then has a right to ask for money to be returned as services that were paid for were not rendered.

My point with this article is for us to identify there are so many individuals who are being affected by the government shut down - many, of whom, are probably not highly visible to us.  Let's try to be cognizant that many individuals, families, and communities are being negatively impacted by this shutdown.

Another Student Athlete Collapses and Dies

This article that appeared in the NY Daily News reported that 18 year old Milo Meeks collapsed while playing basketball in his Florida High School.  As this is such a new story, we do not yet know any health history this young man may have had which may have predisposed him to suffering from a heart condition.

The article does not mention the intervention of a health care provider in the form of an athletic trainer or the intervention of an AED.  As this seems to be an out of season athlete, perhaps if the school did employ an athletic trainer, maybe they had responsibilities to the student athletes who were in season.  In any case, this story once again highlights the need for AEDs to be accessible and an educated public as to its' appropriate use.  Ultimately, I would really like to state this story perhaps identifies the need for enough qualified health care providers to be employed in any community, school or institution in which student-athletes are participating.  While I realize schools will always have the 'fall back' of stating there is not enough money in their budget - I am wondering how many more of these articles we will read in the future before change is made.  Mind you, employing a qualified health care provider does not guarantee this will never occur again, or that the outcome will always be different.  But, it does assist in knowing the student-athletes are getting the best health care possible.  This is something I am sure most parents and athletes themselves would feel comfortable knowing.

How Will Planet Fitness Handle This?

After I read this the first time I couldn't believe what I had just read and had to go back through and re-read.  I know that newspaper reports don't necessarily always get the news 'correct', but this one was rather shocking.  In the article, we learn that a 22 year old female had come to complete her morning work-out at Planet Fitness.

Once she was finished, she went to the locker-room, then went to the rest-room.  One of the other female club members heard her fall to the floor in the bathroom and was able to see her body laying on the floor under the stall.  The club member ran to the front desk to report another club member was in trouble and needed assistance.  The response that was given by the male front desk attendant was rather alarming.  He basically let the club member know he was the only club worker on site and couldn't leave the front desk but had to wait for another worker to arrive.

The article moves on to discuss that the attendant did not call 911 until coaxed by a second member (why the members didn't call themselves isn't made clear).  The female worker finally reports to work and finds the young lady with a 'weak' pulse.  An ambulance is called, but unfortunately,  she dies.  We also find that that Planet Fitness was to have an AED on site as well as someone credentialed to use it - again, these standards were not met by Planet Fitness. I hope the paper will follow the case so that we can find the legal outcome.  In any case, my hope would be that common sense would have prevailed and that the attendant would have left the front desk to check on the club member or at the least, called 911.  We cannot be sure if the outcome would have been different if this occurred, but we will never know as this did not take place.

Technology Assists 3 Year Old to Hear

This story and video demonstrates technology at its' best.  Grayson Clamp was born without nerves to allow him to hear.  Technology and physicians step in and Grayson had an implant placed directly into his brain stem, which now allows him to hear.

The article also has a 'priceless' video in which he is able to hear his dad's voice for the first time.  What I appreciated when seeing the video was that the dad was also using sign language - which meant he took the time to learn another language so that he could communicate with his son.  Take the time to have a look - I hope you enjoy it as I did.

Burned Out Nurses = More Patient Infections?

This article suggests a link between Burned out nurses linked to more infections in patients. The authors describe how researchers have found a correlation to burnout with nurses and the number of infections seen in the patients they care for.

Specifically, the research has suggested that when a nurses' workload increases, so too, does the number of infections that are seen within the patients who are under their care.  This could be due to not practicing good sanitary methods of care between patients; it could be due to fatigue (both physical and mental); it could be due to burn-out.

This article got my attention as I am curious to see if there is any similar relationship within the profession of athletic training.  We know the hours an AT will place in the worksite will almost always be more than a traditional 40 hour week.  Most ATs during preseason will accrue 40 hours working M-W alone!  Studies within the profession of AT have identified burn-out in the profession, but have not linked medical mistakes to the burn-out or job related fatigue.  I can only assume that many ATs have made mistakes when they are consistently putting in 12-14 hour days.  The mistakes may not be that which will be a matter of life and death, but I am curious if the decisions, like the nurses identified in this article, increase our patients health outcomes negatively.

Of course, much more to be looked at regarding this subject and our profession, but thought there may be some connection with our profession and this article.

Smokers Beware!

If there haven't been enough studies published to discuss the negative effects of smoking to help sway a smoker into quitting, perhaps this article will.

The authors identify the 'cost' of smoking a respective employer will have to incur should they have an employee who chooses to smoke.  This will range from actual 'hard money' in the form of  covering medical bills to 'soft money' -- ie. days lost at work, lower productivity.

With this article and the many studies which have preceded it, we have observed many changes with smoking 'rules' including smoke-free  restaurants, clubs and bars.  It seems to be more difficult today than has been in the past to be a smoker with regard to when and where one can smoke.  If we look back to advertisements, movies and even news casts from the 1960's - 1970's we see that smoking seemed to be the 'cool' thing to do.  Today, the culture of smoking is changing to that of a negative rather than a positive as it had been.

The future will tell us how prospective employers will look on hiring an individual who is a smoker.  Perhaps it will not make a difference, but perhaps to some employers this may have them think twice before hiring the individual.  My hope would be that we can attempt to have individuals lead a healthier life by not smoking - and certainly, for those individuals who are employed in a health care industry, I think we need to actually demonstrate healthy behaviors and not just speak about them.

Abuse in Athletics

Over the past few months much has been written about regarding abuse from coaches in athletics - specifically college athletics.  Sadly, the practice of both physical and psychological abuse seems to becoming highlighted more so now - which means that perhaps it has been there all along but may not have been reported.  This article regarding Rutgers University discusses the University's newest selection of an individual who will lead their athletic department - Julie Hermann.  Ms. Hermann replaces Tim Pernetti.  Mr. Pernetti had hired men's baksetball coach, Mike Rice.  Mr. Rice had been videotaped during his basketball practices in which his behavior demonstrated that he physically, verbally and psychologically abused his players.  One of his coaches was very uncomfortable with this and followed up with reporting to his supervisor, Tim Pernetti.   Instead of being dismissed from his job, Mr. Pernetti along with the support of the President of the University, kept the Mr. Rice in the head coach position.  After much negative (rightly so) media attention, Mr. Rice was fired and the Athletic Director resigned.  The AD has been subsequently replaced  by Julie Hermann.

The allegations that have been suggested regarding Ms. Hermann's practices when she was a coach, if true, are yet another example of alarming behavior.  When I sit and ponder to think about what individuals would be at practice and games on a consistent basis, the individual(s) that come to my mind are athletic trainers.  We have an understanding of how a coach runs practice; what they do to motivate their players; how they support their players and how they discipline their athletes.  It is a difficult situation when our values do not connect with those of the coaching staff - what are we left to do when we see a co-worker acting in ways that are disrespectful, and in some cases breaking rules?  What do we do?  This is an ethical question that each of us may need to face in our professional lives.  For some athletic trainers, the answer is clear - speak with the coach, go to our supervisor, make  our voice heard - make something happen.  For others, this may not be so easy.  Fear may be a reason - fear of retaliation; fear of job security; fear of being viewed by others as a 'tattle tail'.

There has been legislation passed in the 1980s that is to protect individuals who want to step forward and report misconduct without fear of retaliation (Whistleblower Protection Act).  However, individuals may still not want to come forward.  While each situation is different, my suggestion is that if you find yourself in this type of challenging situation to do what the right thing is - it may not be the easy thing to do, but select the path where you will be able to look at yourself in the future with no regrets.  Know that all of us will not take the same path - decide what is the best course for you.

Benefits of Meditation to Our Youngest

There has been much written regarding meditation and relaxation techniques for adult populations, but this article posted on ABC News on-line also demonstrates the benefits of 'mindfulness' to our youngest. 

With so many different responsibilities our youth have, it only seems to make sense to have 'quiet' time in which they can sit, relax and take a few moments to quiet their minds.  The authors discuss the importance for all of us to take some quiet moments in our very busy lives in order to help rejuvenate ourselves.  Two studies in this article discuss the positive outcomes of better focus, better health, better attention and better test scores for those children who utilize meditation techniques.  It would be interesting to follow through and study both the short term and long term effects this may have on a cohort.  Perhaps, if the outcomes were similar to the studies identified in the article our school systems might consider implementing!

The World Needs Help!

Just recently a referee who was officiating a league soccer game was punched, and subsequently died from his injuries.  The article is here .  For me the story reminds me how precious life is and how quickly it may change - for any one of us.  How very sad it has become that the way to handle frustration is to hurt another.