Published: March 15, 2008 11:32 pm      

Seminar aims to help coaches send injuries to the bench

Your mother told you, “It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.”

An upcoming seminar aims to help coaches keep sports limited to fun and games.

“It is great, great fun, and it’s a tremendous opportunity to work with kids,” said Jerry Davitch, a longtime coach, educator and school administrator.

Davitch joins a slate of local medical professionals leading Health and the Young Athlete, a medical update for coaches, on April 5 at Memorial Medical Center.

The free educational program is organized by Memorial’s trauma center and is open to coaches at all levels of competition.

“Part of our job in trauma services is looking at the community and looking for ways to reduce injuries,” trauma coordinator Tom Causer said. “We treat a lot of injuries that occur in sports.”

A series published in August by The Tribune-Democrat helped fuel interest in a sports injury-prevention program for coaches, Causer said. One story detailed Brookston, Ind., high school athlete Cody Lehe’s struggle to recovery from brain trauma caused by second impact syndrome, which develops from sometimes insignificant jarring before the brain recovers from an initial injury.

Additional stories on the spread of drug-resistant staph infections added more interest.

“It made us ask: Are we doing the best we can to protect our children?” Causer said, recalling discussions behind next month’s workshop.

Dr. S. Lee Miller, trauma surgeon, will open the seminar with instruction on prevention and management of injuries to the brain and nervous system.

Additional presentations in the four-hour crash course include skeletal injuries by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Richard Schroeder; infection prevention by trauma surgeon Dr. Russell Dumire; athletes with medical disorders by nurse Diana Schroeder of the Office of Community Health; nutrition by Laurie DiGiorgio, clinical dietitian; safety equipment by Greg Heider of Sportsman’s, 829 Horner St.; and sports braces by Tony Gunby of Central Orthotics and Prosthetics Inc., 725 Franklin St.

Davitch will wrap up the day with “Coaching: Keeping it all in perspective.”

“We talk about what it’s really like to work with kids,” Davitch said. “There is a high priority on safety in coaching.”

The course is limited to 200 participants. Registration is available at 534-9402.