Trainers fill risky void

Brent Mangus was a fan watching a high school boys soccer game when one of the players broke his leg. Not knowing what to do, the coaches rushed around to assess the situation, but in reality, they had no clue how to treat the player.

Mangus, associate professor of sports injury management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, scanned the sidelines and realized the team didn't have an athletic trainer.

"I think the coaches were doing a great job, but they couldn't coach and provide medical care at the same time," Mangus said. "(The player) had quite a severe fracture. Fortunately, I was there, and we got him stabilized and got him to the hospital."

Mangus found situations like these happening across the school district in all sports -- fall, winter and spring, as well as male and female sports. And athletic trainers valleywide were noticing the trend, as well.

In cooperation with the school district, Healthsouth Rehabilitation Center of Las Vegas, Sunrise Hospital and St. Rose Dominican Hospital provide an athletic trainer in every high school -- a program that has found its niche during the last three years.

Healthsouth dispenses trainers to schools west of Interstate 15, while Sunrise takes schools east of Interstate 15, and St. Rose handles two schools in Henderson. Green Valley High School hires a private clinic to provide care.

"We were limiting our liability because we weren't asking coaches to make medical diagnoses when they didn't have any experience to do so," said Larry McKay, school district director of athletics. "They were having to make medical decisions on whether to put an athlete back in the game after they were injured."

The idea is a true partnership with the school district which splits $60,000 among the three companies, equating to $3,300 per school -- significantly less than the $24 per hour plus benefits earned by trainers working with the XFL.

Altogether, the trainers spend about 800 hours at the schools during practices, games and prep time and are paid by their employers who offset any additional cost, said Jim Porter, Healthsouth regional outreach coordinator and trainer at Centennial High School.

The trainers' availability allows the coaches to coach and the players somewhere to turn for guidance including learning about their injury, rehabilitation and prevention -- nothing new to 26 states that require athletic trainers for high school athletics, Mangus said.

From 1997-99, 57 percent of injuries occurred in practice, according to statistics compiled by Sunrise on east side schools. Previously, trainers stood on football sidelines during games, but the numbers proved the health professionals' theories accurate, said Steve McCauley, Sunrise athletic department health care manager.

"The school district was, I thought, at a crisis point," McCauley said. "The kids were getting bigger and stronger and faster, and there was no care."

Scott Byleckie, St. Rose head athletic trainer, saw the need in Henderson 10 years ago when he asked hospital administration to allow him to tend to Basic High School athletes.

"The kids playing high school sports needed to be taken care of," Byleckie said. "In college sports, Olympic sports, they have the very best care. Where are these players coming from? They're coming out of our high school programs."

Aside from medical support, the trainers provide students a positive adult influence who isn't a parent, school administrator or teacher.

"It becomes a social thing after being at the same school for awhile," said Paula Sheehan, Healthsouth athletic trainer assigned to Cimarron-Memorial High School for the fourth year. "I have kids graduating this year who I've taped their ankles for four years."

While the students, parents and coaches are enjoying the availability of care, the trainers are enjoying their time at the schools.

"It's absolute, total enjoyment on my part," Byleckie said. "It's a situation where everybody wins. ... I'm a part of their lives. It's all part of a community."