OLATHE, Kan. — Johnson County Emergency Medical Service workers this month are changing the way they respond to athletic injuries on the playing field. The changes are designed to improve care for athletes with neck or back injuries.
The new procedures affect any athlete who wears protective gear like shoulder pads and helmets, and will impact players from pee-wees all the way up to professionals.
Up until now, rescue workers would transport athletes to the hospital in full gear after they suffer back or neck trauma. But the EMS system medical director says with so many different types of athletic gear, it may be better to take advantage of expertise that athletic trainers have on the field.
Trainers now will assist paramedics in removing protective equipment, before the patient is stabilized with a neck brace or moved with a spinal board, and rushed to the emergency room.
“Some of it is just kind of common sense and logic,” said Dr. Ryan Jacobsen, Johnson County EMS Director. “There’s so many different styles of helmets and shoulder pads, kidney protectors. There’s a lot of different face mask styles, chin straps, things of that nature. We realize that athletic trainers that are on site at those games are the experts in that equipment. And they have the specialized tools. They are used to removing that equipment and they are used to taking that stuff off under very controlled conditions.”
The new rules are not just for football, but any sport: lacrosse, hockey, even baseball where an athlete wears a helmet or other protective gear. Dr. Jacobsen says most athletic injuries are minor strains and sprains where time is not critical to receiving treatment.
Dr. Jacobsen says other EMS systems in the nation have been doing this for years, and haven’t run into any problems.
It’s more comfortable for patients and it does provide doctors quicker access to the bodies they will be treating.