Emergency Care
September 7, 2012
As stated in our last posting, preparticipation physical examinations are imperative; but their practical limitations will not permit every heart defect to be discovered prior to participation.
So if sudden cardiac arrest is not 100 percent preventable within the modest means of school sports, the following measures represent the standard that parents would expect – reasonable or not – for the children they put in the care of those administering school sports:
1. There should always be a staff person nearby who holds current certification in CPR.
2. There should always be an AED nearby and in working order, and a staff person nearby who has demonstrated proficiency in its use.
3. There should always be an emergency plan in place with which coaches and trainers are familiar because they not only were presented it, they also practiced it.
Time is of the essence when sudden cardiac arrest occurs; and these three measures combine to deliver competent care quickly.
The End is Near
December 10, 2013
From time to time we are confronted with print or broadcast media reports, or articles in scholarly publications, that criticize schools’ sponsorship of competitive athletic programs. Some authors have gone so far as to predict that the day is coming when schools are forced by the strength of intellectual argument or the shortage of resources to disassociate from competitive sports and to discharge that responsibility to local community groups and private clubs, as is the custom of most other nations.
For 50 years the “end is near” prophecy has been present among our critics. Today the prediction also can be overheard among cash-strapped school administrators, especially if they ascended to leadership without involvement in school sports.
It’s my sense that these dire predictions are not likely to come true for the reasons usually cited – e.g., that the programs dilute focus or divert funds of schools from their core mission. What is more likely is that these predictions will come true because those in charge ignore basic human needs and responses, and they fail to implement programs that meet those needs.
Our response should not be to lower sports’ profile in schools and offer less to students. It should be just the opposite. We should even more boldly proclaim the value of competitive athletic programs; we should provide more sports and levels of teams for high school students; and we should provide junior high/middle school students with more and longer contests, beginning at earlier ages.
We need to go on offense, as my next postings will prescribe.