St. Bernards Sports Medicine will host a free clinic for coaches in Northeast Arkansas on Wednesday evening, July 13, from 5:30 to 8:30.
The event is designed to provide educational opportunities to all area coaches, including those who work in school settings, volunteer coaches who work with youngsters of any age in any sport and even retired coaches.
The program will feature brief presentations by five speakers. Content will include the 2011 Arkansas Activities Association mandated material and will cover issues relevant to various coaching situations.
The introduction will be presented by Andy Shatley, physical therapist who serves as director of the St. Bernards Sports Medicine Program, and the AAA mandated presentation “External Heat Illness” will be presented by Jeremy Swymn, M.D., and one of the medical directors of the St. Bernards Sports Medicine Program.
Other topics to be covered and presenters include “Prevention and Management of MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus)” by Ben Owens Jr., M.D.; “Signs and Symptoms of Concussions and Return to Play Criteria” by Dan Johnson, Ph.D.; and “St. Bernards Health & Wellness Institute,” by Paul Elsass, director.
The program is offered free of charge and will begin with a light meal at 5:30 p.m. at St. Bernards Auditorium, 505 East Washington Ave. Sponsors are St. Bernards Sports Medicine, Jonesboro Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Clinic and The Jonesboro Sun.
St. Bernards Sports Medicine partners with area schools in sports programs by providing free of charge certified athletic trainers for five school districts in Craighead County. Those trainers work alongside coaches with all sports program athletes, and they are on the sidelines and on the bench for varsity football and basketball games. In addition, Sports Medicine has a close network of physicians who provide comprehensive care and coordinate care for injured athletes as they move through treatment as well as a program of extended rehabilitation after insurance visits have been exhausted.
This is the third year St. Bernards Sports Medicine has sponsored a Coaches’ Clinic.