14 HEALTH & FITNESS
EDITOR: DEMARIUS HOLMES | @STMURATTLERNEWS | OCT. 19, 2016
Medical coverage suffers from lack of department funding DEMARIUS HOLMES SPORTS EDITOR
While all athletic events have many different precautions that need to be taken to ensure the safety of the individuals involved. For most large and prosperous sports programs at larger universities, medical attention is almost immediate. There is always at least one athletic trainer on standby ready to assist with an injury, or medical emergency, at each event which is ideal for every athletic event. The health and well–being of any athlete should be the number one priority for anyone that hosts a sporting event. That is not easy for smaller division II schools, as funds are limited and everything has to be prioritized. Not every sport may get the coverage it needs when it should. While the lack of funding only reflects a part of a larger problem, the underlying issues with medical coverage can get very complex. Nathan Byerley, head athletic trainer, weighs in on the issue and explains that coverage at every event is limited due to a lack of staff. The logistics of covering every sport with a smaller than needed staff leads to some events not having coverage. Deciding which sports to cover comes down to several factors. “For our university we should have about six people helping cover, right now we are at about four, so there is definitely a lag in sport coverage, so we have to prioritize,” Byerley said. “In season sports usually take precedence over off season sports, game coverage over practice. Also you look at tournament play, regional play, so on and so forth. You basically have to go through and rank which ones have to have coverage, should have coverage, then you also have the intensity of the sport.”
FROM “COVER
surfaces. According to InfoBites, the worst kind of candies to consume on the night of Halloween are the candies that are chewy, sticky, sour or sugary. Chewy and sticky
While no one wants to run an understaffed athletic program, the decision is financial. This financial issue is something larger schools do not face, as their athletic programs, especially football, are often major generators of income for the university, both in ticket sales and in merchandise. “There is definitely a need for more people, it all boils down to one big thing, and that’s money … schools like UT, Baylor, bigger schools, they basically have trainers covering every sport,” Byerley said. This lack of staffing, however, is problematic in that it exposes the university and its athletes to longer wait times after an injury. Since many injuries are time sensitive and coaching staff are not fully trained in the medical field, it may take a while for someone to be able to help an injured athlete get the attention they desperatly need. “What happens if we aren’t covering a practice and someone goes down into cardiac arrest, you have coaches that are certified to do CPR, ADD whatever, but they don’t have that medical background, so what position does that put your university in?” Byerley said. The question he poses is one that all small division II universities consider when deciding on medical staffing, but ultimately solving it requires more capital than St. Mary’s is able to devote to athletics. For example, this semester has four sports going on, each with both a men’s and women’ team. There is no possible way for the four trainers to cover all bases all the time with the full schedule that each team has. Naturally, some days are going to be harder to cover, while other games will be a breeze to cover due to a low volume of events. Of course, if there was a way to regulate medical coverage regardless of funds
available to do so, that would be the most stress-free solution. It would take some serious budget changes, ones unlikely to be because of the size of St. Mary’s and its athletic program. One solution, that would most likely take years implement, is to contract athletic trainers instead of paying them hourly, as it allows the university to stay true to their budget, which consequently would increase. In the meantime the athletics departments have to share the limited resources available
candies are some of the worst to consume because it is a source of tooth decay, especially when the candies get stuck in between teeth. The candy then lingers in between the teeth for days, making the tooth more vulnerable to cavities and decay. The sour candies are bad because they are
highly acidic and can break down the enamel of a tooth very quickly. Saliva plays a big part in helping restore natural balances of acid in the mouth, but too much consumption of sour candies can be very dangerous. Though the nutritional values are there, many people will still go out and consume
to them and hope that nothing serious will come as a result.
“
..if we aren’t covering a practice and someone goes down into cardiac arrest,... what position does that put your university in?”
-Nathan Byerley Head athletic trainer
Lack of medical assistats on the field for small universities suffer. | Graphic made by: Julia Ewalefo
large amounts of candy. Whether it is a big chocolate bar, a bag of skittles or some sour patch kids, staying away from too much candy will help in the long run. Though candy is not always the safest route to go, it is also important to satisfy the sweet tooth every now and then, but in moderation.
Many Halloween candies have a sugar content and some can equal to a sugary beverage such as soda, the source of this information was gathered from dailyburn.com. | Graphic by Paige Gandara-Valderas