A Southern Lee junior varsity football player had to be airlifted to the hospital after being injured during a kickoff at a game on Sept. 16.
ABC11 interviewed Michael Essa, DPT, MA, ATC, LAT, SCS, OCS, to learn more about the standard emergency response procedures for athletes during a game in progress.
"The basics of emergencies are ensuring and checking the ABCs - the Airway, Breathing, and Circulation. Most of the time, that starts with a question, and if you can get a response, you feel pretty good about them being conscious -- having circulation, airway, and breathing. Suppose you don't, and you have an unconscious athlete. In that case, that's typically when you start the emergency action plan," said Essa, a clinical coordinator for Sports Medicine at Duke Raleigh Hospital.