NORTH FOND DU LAC (NBC 26) — The North Fond du Lac Fire Department is teaming up with athletic trainers to address youth sports injuries.
- The North Fond du Lac Fire Department EMS and local athletic trainers trained together to better understand each group's specialties.
- The goal is to better streamline responses to youth sports injuries.
- Video shows both groups explaining the collaboration.
North Fond du Lac Assistant Fire Chief Adam Moriarty said their EMS team is on standby at every high school football game at North Fond du Lac's high school.
But, the crews realized last year that they may need to improve communication between EMS and athletic trainers.
"We wanted to know who was going to take the lead, who's going to do what, so we thought it was a great idea to bring everybody together," Moriarty said.
This year, North Fond du Lac EM and local athletic trainers with SSM Health are training together.
"A lot of it was answering questions and informing them exactly what EMS is, what we can do, how we can work together, and it was vice versa for us. We didn't have any clue as far as what treatment or assessment tools they're using for the injuries," Moriarty said.
Lead athletic trainer Chris Schattschneider said this is about building relationships between the two groups.
"If an injury happens, we're the ones that are the first on the scene," Schattschneider said. "So we have to take control of that situation, and we want the EMS to trust the person that's controlling the situation."
Assistant Chief Moriarti and Schattschneider said in the future, they hope to expand the partnership to also involve the athletes, which they said could also teach young people about EMS and athletic training careers.
Moriarti said they hope to maintain their relationship for many seasons to come.
