Health & Wellness

West Liberty-Salem Local Schools is the seventh area school system to join Memorial Sports Medicine’s School Athletic Training Program, which provides designated on-site athletic trainers for junior and high school sporting events and practices.

Memorial’s certified athletic trainers are specialty-trained in sports medicine-related healthcare, and perform the following duties:

• Clinical diagnosis and a referral to a physician or physical therapist, if necessary.
• Concussion testing administration, as well as concussion protocol/Return-to-Play and management.
• Emergency care during sporting events and training exercises.
• Functional testing to determine if an athlete is safe to play.
• Rehabilitation of injuries and medical conditions.
• Strategies to prevent injuries during athletic activities.
• Therapeutic interventions like taping or bracing to allow athletes to play safely.

The athletic trainers work with student-athletes and school coaching staff, and are present at home in-season sporting events. The athletic trainers work closely with, and are supervised by, Sports Medicine physicians who also serve as the team doctors. Together, they will establish care in the case of an injury – from the point-of-injury, to determining the best course of treatment, to coordinating care with a medical team. From there, the team physician can coordinate orthopedic care with the other surgeons and providers at Memorial Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, in addition to working with Imaging or Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, to get the athlete back to their sport.

Randy Moore, PT, OCS, MBA, and Executive Director of Musculoskeletal Services at Memorial Health shares, “In today’s school athletic world, it is crucial to have a team approach to healthcare for student-athletes in all sports, in all seasons. Memorial Health is honored to serve alongside the coaching staff, athletic department, and school nurses, in addition to the local EMT/paramedics, to complete a comprehensive athletic healthcare model for the students of West Liberty-Salem.”

Since 2012, Memorial has been providing these services to local schools. Today, the Memorial Sports Medicine team stands proudly behind nearly 1,400 junior high and 2,700 high school student-athletes across seven school districts. Memorial funds the salary and benefits of the athletic trainers at all of these schools as a community service.

According to Ryan Hunt, DO, and the Sports Medicine Physician Director at Memorial Sports Medicine, “Our mission at Memorial Health is to promote the health and wellness of our valued area residents, including our student-athletes. We believe that the proper evaluation and treatment of sports-related injuries can make a lifelong difference in the health of an athlete.”

“West Liberty-Salem Local School District is very excited about our new partnership with Memorial Health and we look forward to the upcoming school year,” shares Kraig Hissong, Superintendent of the West Liberty-Salem Local School District. “Having Memorial Health as our sports medicine partner will provide our community with quality, professional resources for our student athletes. Even more important is the interest Memorial has shown in supporting and partnering with us. They are taking this opportunity very seriously and are committed to providing us with the best service. I see a lot of future potential with this partnership – potential that will hopefully result in many benefits to our greater community and school district.”

Other area school systems that have partnerships with Memorial Sports Medicine include Fairbanks, Jonathan Alder, Marysville, Mechanicsburg, North Union, and Triad.

To learn more about Memorial Sports Medicine and how its trained clinical professionals assist all athletes, visit memorialohio.com/sports-medicine.