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PHS institutes head injury policy

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POLSON — Mothers of athletes have always worried about their kids getting hurt playing sports, but what happened to Dylan Steigers is every family’s nightmare. 

Steigers played football for Missoula Sentinel High School and wanted to play college ball at Eastern Oregon University. 

After a brain injury suffered in a Mountaineers scrimmage, he passed away in May 2010.

According to OregonLive.com powered by “The Oregonian,” Steigers was playing safety. He walked off the field and talked to coaches, who didn’t like the way he looked and called for a trainer. Steigers vomited, a symptom of concussion, and because of that, coaching staff sent Steigers to Grand Ronde Hospital in La Grande, Ore. Later he was flown to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, Boise, Idaho, where he died. 

In Steigers’ honor, his family lobbied for a     

new law, which was passed by the 2013 Montana State Legislature, called the Dylan Steigers Protection of Young Athletes Act, SB 112.

Montana was the 45th state to adopt a concussion policy when Governor Steve Bullock signed the bill into law on April 22.

Montana school districts have until 2014 to have a concussion policy in place, but Polson High School is ahead of the curve and will implement their policy this fall. 

Scott Wilson, PHS vice principal and athletic director, explained the policy at the first of two meetings prospective athletes and their parents attend. Schools are required to distribute information sheets to educate student athletes and parents “of the nature and risk of concussion and head injury to student athletes, including the risks of continuing to play after concussion or head injury.”

Montana law states that student athletes and their parents/guardians must be given an information sheet on the “nature and risk of concussion,” and both must sign a form saying they received the information. Then the form should be returned to a school official, in this case, Scott.

In addition, a student athlete who is suspected of having a concussion or a head injury in a game or practice “shall be removed from play at the time of injury and may not return to play until the student athlete has received a written clearance from a licensed health care provider.”   

Scott added that kids should keep an eye on each other. 

“If your buddy is out in the huddle and has no clue what is going on, tell the coach,” he said. 

Another proactive way PHS is dealing with the concussion issue is ImPACT concussion testing, thanks to Providence St. Joseph Medical Center Rehabilitation Services Departments, which purchased the program.

The computerized test has “tasks that look at speed, coordination, problem solving, a variety of questions that look at all aspects of brain functioning,” said Brian Wilson, manager of St. Joe’s Rehabilitation Services Department. 

It provides baseline data for an athlete’s brain. 

Then if a student should receive a concussion or a brain injury, after a week of rest, he or she can retake the test. The data will give health care practitioners information on whether or not to allow the athlete to return to practice and/or games. 

“(ImPACT) is the first objective measure we can utilize,” Brian said.

Scott will begin to administer the test to groups of student athletes in PHS’s computer lab as soon as practices begin. The test takes about 30 minutes, Brian said.

“It’s probably one of the best things that happened in my 25 years of coaching,”Scott t said.

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