CLEVELAND — Providing life-saving training to those involved in local youth hockey was the goal inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Tuesday as doctors with University Hospitals partnered with the Cleveland Monsters for a special hands-on demonstration.
As part of the First Response for Sports Trauma (FRST) training, local EMS professionals and members of local hockey clubs and teams gathered for the course where they learned skills to provide treatment to athletes in events of serious injuries like neck and spine trauma and sudden cardiac arrest.
"The First Response for Sports Trauma course is designed to create a dialog between the athletic medicine team and the first responders that are going to be taking that injured athlete to the hospital," said Dr. Rob Flannery of University Hospitals. "It's a chance to review emergency action plans, make sure everybody is up to date on the most recent protocols, and then everyone's on the same page so that you don't have to have any discussions when you're standing over an injured athlete."
From taking first steps to cover the blades on the skates and removing protective equipment to moving players away from boards on the ice, those at the training course learned best practices for treating injuries on the ice.
University Hospitals has continued working to provide sports injury training, having a big hand in the work Cleveland Browns cornerback Denzel Ward does with his organization Make Them Know Your Name, which raises awareness for heart health and CPR and AED training.
The training with the Monsters, however, was intended to get more specific as treating injuries on a hockey rink comes with many more challenges than those on a football field, baseball field, or basketball court, for example.
"Hockey presents some unique challenges, the ice obviously is a slippery surface and you don't want to create more injuries by doing things too quickly, rushing onto the ice, sliding into the injured athlete," Flannery said. "And so you don't always have a chance to practice that and get people that are actually going to be the first responders and those taking care of those injured athletes to get them out onto the ice. To be able to practice that beforehand is a big help so that it's not the first time you're doing it whenever somebody is injured."
Hands on demonstrations were just part of the course. A practical assessment and written test follows to ensure the principles of the course were relayed and received.
Flannery and those with FRST aim to use courses like the one inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to spread the knowledge to communities across Northeast Ohio and ensure everyone has the skill and preparation to act in moments of serious sporting injuries.
"Everybody wants to believe that they are going to rise to the occasion when a serious injury occurs. But the truth is that you rise to your preparation," Flannery said. "And so what that means is you practiced it, you've rehearsed it, you've thought about the possible outcomes and that you're ready for it whenever it happens."
The Monsters share that same goal, hoping to get this training implemented to youth hockey clubs and organizations in the area and beyond.
"We're hoping that our folks from the youth hockey organizations that are here today and local EMS will go back and spread this knowledge and then also hold their own trainings in the fall ahead of hockey season," said Ben Adams, VP of marketing and communication for the Cleveland Monsters.
To learn more about the FRST course, click here.
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