During the 2017 high school football season, a new Sport Concussion Care-A-Van will be traveling to games across Gwinnett County to provide on-site education and care for a full range of sports-related injuries including head injuries.
The mobile care unit, which is the first of its kind in Georgia, is an initiative of Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville. The vehicle includes a fully-equipped athletic training room to provide concussion testing of student-athletes as well as provide treatment for various other injuries.
According to Medical Director for the Concussion Institute at Gwinnett Medical, Dr. Saadiq El-Amin, the van will be a great opportunity not only for medical care, but also education.
"This initiative is similar to what the Medical Center did with the mammography van to evaluate and educate residents for breast cancer. It is a very similar concept," said Dr. El-Amin.
The Sports Medicine and Concussion Care-A-Van is equipped with the following tools to support the education of athletes, parents, coaches, educators and others:
- Concussion baseline testing
- Athletic Training /First Aid
- Education
- Injury Prevention
- Physical Therapy
- Wellness Programs
- Sport Physicals
According to Dr. El-Amin, the van will be at games ready to treat any player that has suffered an injury and will provide testing to anyone showing symptoms of a concussion.
The van is an extension of the efforts the Medical Center's Concussion Institute has placed on concussion prevention and safety in youth sports.
"I have to commend Gwinnett for this initiative because to setup a Concussion Institute way before people talked about CTE in football injuries was incredible. This next step shows that the medical professionals at the Medical Center are committed to concussion treatment and prevention," Dr. El-Amin said.
The Gwinnett Medical Center is also working on a mobile application for sports related concussion testing as well.
"We are trying to create and implement an app that trainers and coaches can use on the sideline to go through steps to determine if a player has a concussion. The information recording in the app will be transmitted to the van on site, the hospital or the physician on call to start the process of treatment."
The van was at Friday and Saturday's Corky Classic football games at the new Georgia State football stadium where Gwinnett teams Mill Creek, Buford and North Gwinnett all were competing.
Dr. Saadiq El-Amin was a guest on WDUN's Afternoon News Wrap.
