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This month we find ourselves in a bizarre time in our lives and profession. We are all questioning how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect our family, friends, jobs, and overall wellbeing. I encourage you all to read President Lindley’s letter to the NATA membership. He offers some great points to help with overall anxieties and gives some excellent suggestions of how we can be spending this time. In the coming post I will echo some of these suggestions and also give a bit more insight into some ideas to how we as Athletic Trainers in Alabama can prove our worth and show how expansive our skills can be.

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Below you will find more advice from your association for these questionable times, support for those that are interested from ATsCares, more information on where we are with our bill and ways you can continue to help, and more information on our current plans with the our 2020 Annual Meeting.

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Lastly, let me acknowledge all of you for of your hard work over the last few months. You all stepped up in a major way by helping us pass SB 93 in the Senate. Thank you for your help! We are not done yet, but I have faith that despite this hiatus, we will still have momentum and still have a chance to be successful in the coming months.

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As always, we are here for you. Please reach out to any of your Executive Council members with questions, concerns, or suggestions of how we can help in these times.

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We echo President Lindley’s talking points on the NATA response to COVID-19 pandemic. A few to highlight:

 

1. If you are an AT working in the hospital, clinical, physician practice, health care system, we encourage you to communicate with your employer your capabilities to assist with intake, screenings, triage, and other COVID-19 related solutions so as to prove how you can continue to help with this pandemic.

2. If you are an AT who finds you are temporarily separated from your daily duties and patient populations in settings such as secondary school or collegiate, please consider reaching out to your local and regional health care entities about your capabilities and availability as a health care provider.

3. Consider utilizing NATA’s extensive online learning platform for BOC-approved CEU content. Members may use their 10 free CEU credits to focus on advancing their clinical skills and clinical specialization from the NATA Professional Development Center.

4. For educators (secondary school or higher), remember the content in the NATA Professional Development Center may be a resource to supplement your students’ learning.

5. The NATA Clinical Symposia & AT Expo is 92 days away and is currently still planned to be held. Follow @NATAevents on Twitter and @NATAMeeting on Facebook for the most current convention information.

6. The NATA has developed a COVID-19 resource page to help members can access NATA and affiliate communication related to this pandemic.

 

Additional notes from the ALATA:

 

1. As of now, we are still planning to host the 2020 ALATA Annual CSMM. We also are continuing to monitor the everchanging situation and will follow all recommendations made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization and the event industry community. More information on this event can be found below and on our website.

2. No matter the status of the ALATA 2020 Annual Meeting, we are planning to offer other CEU opportunities later this summer. More on that to come as more information is available.

3. Please continue to follow information coming information and opportunities coming from the NATA, SEATA, BOC, AHSAA, AISA, and any other association related to our field. Links can be found below and on our website.

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Hello All!

 

I just wanted to reach out briefly as the state representative for ATsCare that if you have any questions or concerns at any time do not hesitate to reach out to me at 205-726-4715, ksouthal@samford.edu, or alatasec@gmail.com 24/7/365.

 

A brief overview of services we offer:

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1. Critical incident stress management. If you have a stressful event or series of events happening in your life (personal or professional) reach out to us through the NATA’s ATsCare link or myself directly.​

2. Education on high stress event management.​

3. Pre and post event assessment. Are you and your staff prepared for a high stress event? Are you and your staff getting the appropriate help post stressful event?​

4. A multitude of educational and other helpful resources both locally and nationally

5. We are athletic trainers helping athletic trainers through stressful times.​

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Kyle Southall, MS, LAT, ATC, PES, CSCS

ALATA ATsCares Committee Chair

SEATA ATsCare Committee Member

NATA ATsCare Committee Member

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As developments and news related to the COVID-19 virus outbreak continue to swell, members are encouraged to exercise universal precautions as health care professionals and observe recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to support the safety and well-being of their patients as well as themselves. ALATA will continue to monitor the situation and defer to the CDC and World Health Organization as protocols develop. ALATA encourages members to do the same.

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With the 2020 ALATA Annual Meeting and Symposia due to take place May 21 - 23 (still 10 weeks away), ALATA is continuing to plan confidently for the meeting.

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ALATA currently has no plans to postpone or cancel ALATA 2020.

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This unprecedented situation is changing daily, so we remain watchful, but also focused on delivering what is an extremely important event for the athletic training profession. We are carefully considering and consulting with experts on what the appropriate sanitary, health and other measures should be, and can assure our profession that all appropriate measures will be in place at ALATA 2020.

 

More information on this event, registration, and hotel accommodations can be found here.

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SB 93 passed!! We passed with an almost unanimous vote of 31-1 vote in favor of our bill. With state legislators on spring break at the moment, we hope to continue this momentum in the House of Representatives and have the same outcome for HB 141. Legislators are scheduled to reconvene March 31st.

 

Despite this great news, this fight is not over, and we still need your help. In the coming weeks, we will continue to ask you to call and/or email your House Rep. It is our plan to continue to help you with this through the NATA’s Governmental Affairs software, which help you identify who your Representative is and even gives you language to use in your communications.

 

More information on who Alabama’s Legislators are can be found here.

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NATA COVID-19 Resource Page

 

BOC Newsroom: Coronavirus

 

CAATE: Coronavirus Updates and FAQs

 

AHSAA COVID-19 Updates

 

AISA Webpage