Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Schools practicing without trainers

With enveloping 104-degree heat in the forecast, as many as 19 local high schools will begin their most intense week of football practice Thursday without medical staff on site.

That is because the backlogged Clark County School District is yet to reach an agreement with a local healthcare outfit to provide athletic trainers to the schools for the coming year. Although the district is close on financial terms of a deal with HealthSouth Rehabilitation Center, negotiations over contract specifics that began in late July continue, said CCSD interim athletics director Dr. Michael Robison.

"It's not just as easy as one might think to ask someone to provide you with 24 athletic trainers," Robison said. "We know that football practice starts, but we also have to make sure we have the kind of agreement necessary to serve the children."

HealthSouth, which has provided trainers to west side high schools for the past five years, is offering to cover all 24 high schools under a proposal submitted to CCSD in May, but apparently put on hold because of the state funding crisis.

HealthSouth regional outreach coordinator Jim Porter said that in a perfect scenario -- one in which a deal can be reached this week and he can immediately hire more trainers -- he can arrange for coverage at all high schools by Aug. 29, the date of the season's first football games.

Porter admits that is an optimistic goal, with trainers more likely to be in place by the middle of September. Porter said that as of today, he could place trainers at 16 high schools, but will need to make more hires to cover every school.

"It's going to be very difficult to get something done quickly," Porter said. Last year, CCSD paid Healthsouth $3,300 per school to provide a trainer for that location.

Porter declined to divulge financial details of HealthSouth's proposal, but he did say that services are being offered to the district at an under-market cost of 55 cents on the dollar. Robison also declined to reveal financial specifics of a potential deal.

Porter said he understands that the Legislature's struggles placed CCSD in a difficult financial situation that did not allow the district to allocate money in a timelier manner. Money became available to CCSD two weeks ago, though, and Porter said no one from the district's legal department has contacted him as of Tuesday.

"The first five years, I had to argue with my company to keep the program," Porter said. "Now, I have to argue with the school district."

Of the public schools, Basic, Foothill, and Coronado are maintaining their agreement with St. Rose Dominican Hospital to provide trainers, and Palo Verde and Green Valley have made their own arrangements as well. So far, according to Porter, that's it.

"We're cheating the kids by not having trainers here," Desert Pines coach Leon Evans said.

This situation compounds a problem that began last year when Sunrise Hospital pulled its $200,000 commitment to supply trainers to east side schools days before the start of fall practice. CCSD worked with HealthSouth to at least cover all football games with trainers or emergency response personnel, but the patchwork approach left most Sunrise Conference schools without sports medicine staff for the year.

"At that time, we put a Band-Aid on and got through the season," Porter said.

Local football coaches say that trainers are an invaluable resource for a number of reasons that go well beyond taping ankles and patching up cuts. With players combating sweltering heat throughout preseason practices that emphasize conditioning, a primary function of a trainer is to monitor athletes for signs of heat exhaustion and dehydration.

Las Vegas High coach Kris Cinkovich said another unique function is that trainers set up and carry out rehabilitation programs for players recovering from all levels of injuries.

"What it's going to do is make coaches start making these decisions and they are not the most trained or impartial people to do that," Cinkovich said.

With increased practice intensity also comes increased risk of injury.

Although all coaches are required to have current CPR training, few feel comfortable dealing with serious medical issues. Cinkovich said without a trainer to assess injuries, he will call parents to pick up their kids to take them for further care if a player appears to need medical attention.

"There's no coach over here with any medical background," Evans said.

HealthSouth's proposal includes a system to decide the order in which schools are staffed. Porter said that "those trainers that have a history with the schools" -- meaning those trainers assigned to Sunset Region schools last year - will be the first installed. Assignments would then be made on a geographical basis as HealthSouth attempts to place a trainer in every area so that unstaffed neighboring schools would at least have some limited access.

Such a system would not set well with Evans, who is entering his second year without a trainer.

"That's the most unfair thing they've come out with thus far," Evans said.

Robison cautions that nothing has been agreed upon and that trainer allocation is an issue which the district must still "debate and discuss" with HealthSouth.

HealthSouth also offered CCSD an alternate proposal in which it would cover eight selected high schools at the current financial rate.

"The eight schools are schools that have business potential for us," Porter said. "None are the lower economic schools. It's a business decision for us."

CCSD officials indicated that they would likely reject that idea and work toward covering all 24 schools. In the meantime, crossed fingers will be the most prevalent form of injury prevention at most high schools Thursday.

"I'm just hoping that nothing happens between now and when (a deal) happens," Porter said. "That's what scares me, a lot."

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