Sports Medicine Overview

Since the 2017-2018 school year, The Schuylkill Valley School District has contracted with Penn State St. Joe's (www.thefutureofhealthcare.org) to employ two full-time athletic trainers for the care and prevention of athletic injuries.  The hours for the athletic trainers are 1:30 PM until the last event or practice of the day is completed at the high school and middle school levels.  The athletic trainers are responsible for diagnosing problems and referring students to physicians and physical therapists when necessary.  They also provide preventative services such as wrapping joints or stretching.  Finally, the athletic trainers coordinate and monitor rehabilitation programs for injured athletes.

The school district also employs a team physician’s group to aid the trainer with the care and treatment of our student-athletes.  Dr. Travis Miller is the team physician for the SV School District https://www.pennstatehealth.org/doctors/travis-d-miller-do.  Dr. Miller provides physical exams for the district each season and is the referring physician for injuries that are beyond the scope of our athletic trainer.  In the case of injury, Dr. Miller will see SV student-athletes the next day at his medical practice. 

For emergencies, the St. Joseph Hospital provides excellent medical care.  St. Joe's also provides an Urgent Care facility on Route 222 in Blandon (across from the CVS) which provides medical testing (including X-Rays), Physical Therapy, urgent care treatment, EKGs and other services.  The hours for Urgent care are Mon - Fri from 4:00 pm - 9:00 pm, Saturday from 8:00 am - 4:00 pm and Sunday from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm.  

TRAINING ROOM PROCEDURES
1.  Each athlete needs to have satisfactorily passed the pre-participation physical exam.  Coaches will not allow students to practice until that obligation is fulfilled.

 2.  The coach is responsible for acquiring and returning medical first aid kits, ice chests and water coolers before and after each season.
 3.  Ice for injuries and injury prevention is located in the training room at the high school and at the middle school.
 4.  All injuries resulting in swelling, missed time or substantial pain should be reported to the athletic trainer immediately.  Even if the athlete does not feel an injury is critical, it is always best to let a medical professional deal with the situation.
 5.  Once an injured athlete has sought care from the athletic trainer or a team physician, the only way that the athlete may return to play is with written or verbal permission from the trainer or the doctor. If there is any doubt, the coach should contact the athletic trainer directly.  The team physician and the trainer overrule the coach and the player.  This is a PIAA requirement.
 6.  The trainer will submit an accident report with assistance from the coaching staff when an injury is severe enough to warrant such a report.  All injuries resulting in emergency care should be reported to the trainer and/or the athletic director.
 7.  The training room is a first-come, first-serve facility on most occasions.  When teams have away games, athletes on those teams will get first priority for treatment.  Athletes who have home games will have second priority.  Third priority for treatment is high school athletes and the final priority is junior high athletes. 


https://svathletics.org