Library’s first health initiative installment to focus on sports medicine
MADISON – Sports medicine will be the topic for the first installment of the Huntsville Hospital Community Health Initiative at Madison Public Library.
Michael Stevenson (CONTRIBUTED)
Michael Stevenson, program manager for Huntsville Hospital Sports Center, will speak on Sept. 23 at 6:30 p.m.
Steven’s overview will show athletic training as a profession and the sports medicine team as a whole. He will review common injuries like sprains and strains, tips and strategies for treating injuries and player safety in professional leagues, along with a question-and-answer time.
The session will target parents and youth athletes for competing in a safer environment.
“The Sports Center department has a staff of athletic trainers (board-certified medical professionals) who we provide to our partner schools at no cost. Athletic trainers attend practices and games and can facilitate health care when an injury arises,” along with helping prevent injury, Stevenson said.
With The Orthopedic Center, Stevenson’s department “provides a chain of care unmatched in the area. From start to finish, our athletic trainers can take the athlete from injury to returning to play,” he said.
The hospital’s wellness centers can provide “some one-on-one personal training, all the way to physical therapy, surgery, imaging, emergency room visits — all under one umbrella,” he said.
Communication about the athlete or patient’s status is important. “It truly is a team approach, with the athletic trainer being the first and last line of defense,” Stevenson said.
Huntsville Hospital Sports Center is the exclusive sports medicine provider for Madison City Schools.
Branch manager Sarah Sledge wrote the 12-month health initiative grant, awarded to the Huntsville Library Foundation for the Madison library. “Each month the Madison library will provide a public seminar by authoritative health professionals,” librarian Teresa Allison.
Topics will include nutrition, pediatrics and parenting, breast cancer and women’s health, senior health and stroke, substance abuse, Black History Month, stroke, special needs issues, mental health, cancer and teen health. The sessions will “connect library patrons with the Madison medical community and local health agencies,” Allison said.
