East Texas first responders prepare for football season

TYLER — An emergency sideline training course was held at UT Health East Texas Saturday to help prepare EMS, doctors and nurses for middle and high school sports events, according to our news partner KETK. “To reach out to a number of different health care professionals and make this a multi-disciplinary conference because we recognize we’re on the sidelines dealing with emergencies,” said Michael Galbraith, associate program director of sports medicine for UT Health Science Center. The conference is a way to bridge the gap between all the first responders involved during a game emergency, especially when it comes to communication. With football season less than a month away knowing how to care for a patient covered in safety equipment is key to a quick response. “We’re also talking about heat illness, like heat stroke on the sidelines with sports, and we’re also going to talk about dislocations and how we can reduce dislocations on the sideline with athletes,” said Galbraith. Sporting events are a rare environment for first responders and not everyone gets the chance to learn about the types of injuries they may be faced with.