News sport : Steve Tisch donates $1.2 million towards preventing H.S. football injuries

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When a Staten Island, New York, high school football player collapsed on the field during practice on Sept. 1, there was no medical professional there to treat him. A group of firefighters soon arrived, attempting to revive him with CPR, but it was too late.

Similar tragedies have occurred across the country in recent years.

There is no way of knowing if immediate treatment could have saved the lives of any of the players, but it's a question that parents and coaches should never have to consider.

New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch is trying to make sure they never have to. He recently donated $1.2 million to the New York City Department of Education to fund the hiring of certified athletic trainers and EMTs for the city's 53 public high school football programs.

“A lot of parents are concerned about their kids playing contact sports,” Tisch said at a press conference, standing alongside Victor Cruz. “But as a parent, my level of confidence and comfort is greatly increased if I know that there are trained coaches as well as trainers who can recognize concussion symptoms, know concussion protocols, and I hope that’s one of the real benefits of this program.”

Studies have shown that having a full-time athletic trainer on site leads to more concussion diagnosis compared to having a primary care physician present only for games or practices. It has to do with the relationship between the players and the trainers, according to studies posted by the advocacy group MomsTEAM. Knowing players on a personal basis also helps athletic trainers spot changes in behavior and mood.

The National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) reports that the number of high schools with access to full- or part-time trainers has risen from 40 percent in 2005 to about 60 percent in 2013, as concussion awareness has grown. The numbers vary greatly by state and economic status, though. Earlier this year, the NFL also pledged $1 million towards hiring athletic trainers in under-served areas.

This is Tisch's second major safety-related donation of the year. In May, he donated $10 million to UCLA's concussion research program, now named the UCLA Steve Tisch BrainSPORT Program. The funding will allow them to focus on training neurologists in youth concussion diagnosis, developing new diagnostic tools, and studying the link between concussions and long-term brain damage.

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