Emergency Preparedness is Now the Norm

Certified athletic trainers have always been at the forefront of being prepared. But like any science or movement, this too has been evolving. Consider the recent action by the Professional Hockey Athletic Trainers’ Society (PHATS)(NATA NEWS 2/11) to actually place an identically prepared and stocked medical/emergency bag in each of their 30 arenas so that the visiting team may always be assured that vital supplies and equipment will always be there for them. Congrats to PHATS and to Sports Health for crystallizing this forward thinking idea!

On the high school wrestling front, look at this idea which I call the Mat-O-Matic. We all know that when a wrestler comes to the edge of the mat that having all necessary supplies on hand to save time is critical. Nose bleeds, cut lips, the opponent’s blood and blood on the uniform are all routine occurrences that need to be dealt with quickly.

The Mat-O-Matic is a garbage can with a plastic bag liner mounted onto wheels. It can roll to the edge or onto the mat for both home and visiting benches. The outer rim of the garbage supports a plywood circle with multiple holes drills around its circumference. Here are the items that are able to be positioned in these circles:

• Vaseline
  
• Gauze pads
• Nose plugs
• Hand sanitizer
• Vinyl gloves
• 3-4 cups of water
• Blood Buster
• Adhesive tape
• Elastic wrap
• Pre-wrap

In addition, hanging along the sides are:

• A container of antiseptic wipes for the athlete’s skin
• A squirt bottle of mat cleaning solution
• A Swiffer-type mop to clean blood from the mat
• Additional pads for the mop cleaner

Just like the PHATS’s philosophy of visiting teams being well taken care of, the Mat-O-Matic has become the norm at my school by visiting coaches.