Collaborative Initiatives Advancing Access to Lifesaving Policies, Procedures and Equipment for Secondary School Athletes

This presentation is a replay from NATA 2024 in New Orleans, providing another opportunity to access its valuable content and insights.

Abstract:
As advancements in lifesaving care have been discovered and established as best practice, the requirement to provide these for all athletes has been absent, specifically at the state level. This has allowed the creation of health disparities for lifesaving heat policies, cardiac policies and access to AEDs. This session will briefly discuss the established best practices for SCA and heat stroke, describe access to these lifesaving standards for high school athletes, and provide an overview of current collaborative efforts to enhance health and safety for high school athletes.

Learning Objectives:

  • Determine best practices related to identifying, managing, and treating sudden cardiac arrest and heat stroke in high school athletes.
  • Recognize gaps and health disparities that exist in sudden cardiac arrest care and heat stroke for high school sports.
  • Identify collaborative initiatives that have been used or that currently exist to address health disparities for best practices in sudden cardiac arrest care and heat stroke for high school athletes

Level:
Essential

Domain(s):
Domain 5: Health Care Administration and Professional Responsibility

CEUs:
1.0 Category A

Keywords: Emergency Action Plan; AED; Coach Education

Enhanced Access On-Demand Course Expiration:
Access to this course will expire at the end of the membership year on December 31 at 11:59 p.m. CST.
For full details, refer to the Expiration Date Policy on our FAQ page.

Rebecca Stearns, PhD, ATC

Rebecca Stearns, PhD, ATC

Rebecca Stearns, is the Chief Operating Officer for the Korey Stringer Institute (KSI) and has worked at KSI since it began in April of 2010. Dr. Stearns is a certified athletic trainer and has experience as an athletic trainer at the high school level and at various mass medical tent events including Boston Marathon, Marine Corps Marathon, New York City Marathon, Falmouth Road Race and the Ironman Lake Placid.

She has co-authored multiple position statements related to preventing sudden death in sport and published over  85 research articles. Her particular research interest is in the effects of heat and hydration on sport performance and physiological functioning in addition to identifying the risk of future exertional heat stroke episodes. Dr. Stearns also led the creation of an online educational course specific to preventing sudden death in sport, as well as co-editing books addressing these topics which include “Preventing Sudden Death in Sport and Physical Activity” and “Emergency Management for Sport and Physical Activity.” 

She is an avid runner, having completed 8 marathons which include the Boston, New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Marine Corps and Berlin marathons. Dr. Stearns earned her bachelor’s degree in athletic training at Duquesne University in 2006. She completed her master’s and doctoral degrees in kinesiology at the University of Connecticut in 2008 and 2012, respectively.

Douglas Casa, PhD, ATC

Douglas Casa, PhD, ATC

Dr. Casa is the CEO of the Korey Stringer Institute (since it was founded in 2010) and is a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Kinesiology (began at UCONN in 1999) at the University of Connecticut. Additionally, he is the editor of a book titled: Preventing Sudden Death in Sport and Physical Activity (2nd edition, 2017), published by Jones & Bartlett in cooperation with the American College of Sports Medicine. Another recent book titled Sports and Physical Activity in the heat: Maximizing Performance and Safety was published by Springer in the winter of 2018. His latest book- Elite Soccer Players: Maximizing Performance and Safety was published by Routledge in 2020. Dr. Casa has published about 400 peer- reviewed publications/book chapters and presented more than 600 times on subjects related to maximizing performance in the heat, exertional heat stroke, heat-related illnesses, preventing sudden death in sport, and hydration. As a licensed athletic trainer Dr. Casa has successfully treated 401 cases of exertional heat stroke (with 0 fatalities). In addition, from 2018 through 2021 he served on the International Olympic Committee Adverse Weather Impact Expert Group for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (took place in 2021) that focused on the extreme heat anticipated for these games. During his 25 years as a faculty member in the Department of Kinesiology at UConn the department has been ranked 1st or 2nd for 15 of the 25 years by the National Academy of Kinesiology.He has been a lead or co-author on over 15 sports medicine position statements/consensus statements/roundtables related to heat illness, hydration, and preventing sudden death and participated as a writing group member on 15 other policy statements for leading organizations (ACSM, NATA, WA, IOC, DOD, etc.). Dr. Casa has worked with numerous media outlets across the country in discussing his research including the HBO, NBC Today Show, Good Morning America, ESPN, CNN, PBS, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, among many others. Dr. Casa earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Allegheny College in 1990; his master’s degree in athletic training from the University of Florida in 1993; and his doctorate in exercise physiology from the University of Connecticut in 1997. He is happily married to his wife Tutita Casa, PhD and they have 3 kids; Montana, Navia and Alessio.
Christianne M. Eason, PhD, ATC

Christianne M. Eason, PhD, ATC

Christianne Eason returned to the University of Connecticut to join the Korey Stringer Institute team as the director of innovATe and a contributor to the TUFSS project in the summer of 2020. Dr. Eason is a certified athletic trainer and has worked clinically in the NCAA Division I, NCAA Division III, and secondary school settings. She continues to serve as a medical volunteer at mass medical tent events including the Boston Marathon and Falmouth Road Race. Christianne has provided testimony on behalf of athletic training scope of practice legislation before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Public Health multiple times and continues to be a strong proponent of professional and personal advocacy.

Prior to joining the KSI team, Dr. Eason worked as an Assistant Professor of Athletic Training and the graduate school coordinator for the School of Health Sciences at Lasell University. During her time at Lasell, Dr. Eason was able to assist in the professional level degree transition of the Athletic Training program. Her research interests focus on the work-life interface of athletic trainers and the examination of individual and organizational level factors that impact retention, professional commitment, work-life conflict, and patient care. Dr. Eason is a lead or contributing author on nearly 50 peer reviewed articles, including the NATA Position Statement, Facilitating Work Life Balance in Athletic Training Practice Settings, and authored five textbook chapters. She has presented at numerous national, regional, and state conferences on topics including professional commitment, career intentions, organizational structure, and mentoring. Dr. Eason has expertise in qualitative and mixed-methodologies.

Christianne is a recreational runner and has completed half marathons in the Grand Tetons and Rocky Mountains. She is a self-proclaimed paddle board aficionado and travel enthusiast. Dr. Eason earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Athletic Training from the University of Connecticut, her Master’s Degree in Nutrition and Physical Activity from James Madison University and her Doctorate in Sport Management from the University of Connecticut.

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