NATA Now

All students are invited to the Cramer Student Reception June 27 in Houston. After the conclusion of the academic programming for the day, the reception will start at 4 p.m. in room 320 at the convention center. In addition to free food and drinks, students will have the opportunity to get the Cramer giveaway item a day early. Free Wi-Fi will also be available in the student lounge throughout the convention.

We are excited to announce that Dr. Zubin Damania (ZDoggMD) will be bringing the house down with his comedic, inspirational message in Houston this summer as the 2017 NATA Keynote Speaker. Let’s just say this: You’ve probably never met a physician like Dr. Z before!

UPDATED May 26

NATA President Scott Sailor, EdD, ATC, was one of six individuals to testify Wednesday, May 17, during the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation hearing “Current Issues in American Sports: Protecting the Health and Safety of American Athletes.”

We are excited to announce the winners of the 2017 NATA Public Relations Contest. 

Best Overall Campaign
Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers’ Society 

Best State Association Effort
Winner:
North Carolina Athletic Trainers’ Association 

Honorable mention:
Athletic Trainer’s Society of New Jersey 
Connecticut Athletic Trainers’ Association 
Hawaii Athletic Trainers’ Association 

Best Student Effort
Winner: 
Iowa State University 

Steve Allison, LAT, and his staff at Divine Savior Health Care in Portage, Wisconsin, were featured in the June NATA News as a key clinical site for NATA's Third Party Reimbursement Project. Allison started working on achieving third party reimbursement for AT services in 2000, and  his tireless advocacy efforts have allowed him to grow the number of athletic trainers at Divine Savior who are reimbursing for services from just one – himself – to five.

With the weather warming up, and more time being spent outside, now is a great time to remind members of your community of the importance of sun safety. To help you in this effort, NATA has created a sun safety infographic handout, which was featured in the June NATA News. The handout offers tips and suggestions as to how to have fun in the sun while protecting your skin, such as wearing sunscreen that has at least an SPF of 30 and staying hydrated.

NATA welcomes its newest Preferred Provider Go4Ellis, a mobile platform created by NXTsports to improve youth sports safety by making it easier to directly connect athletic trainers with per diem opportunities at youth sporting events. This app allows event operators or anyone looking for an athletic trainer to provide on-site health care during a game, practice or tournament to post the event details to the platform. ATs can search the available per diem opportunities and pick those that suit their availability.

NATA has launched the Sports Medicine Legal Digest, a new quarterly digital magazine focused on legal issues affecting athletic trainers and other sports medicine health care professionals. The first issue contains 12 pages of content related to liability and professional responsibility, including current case summaries, a Q&A with an athletic trainer/lawyer and a column about the importance of standing orders written by members of the NATA Professional Responsibility Committee.

The United States Bone and Joint Initiative (USBJI) and Bone and Joint Canada are dedicated to increasing research of musculoskeletal diseases. To keep pace with the high and increasing burden of these diseases, a higher level of research performed by young investigators in the musculoskeletal diseases is required, and future levels of research assured. This is particularly important given the current environment for research funding, and academic careers.

During the 68th NATA Clinical Symposia & AT Expo this June in Houston, NATA will induct seven more esteemed athletic trainers into its Hall of Fame. These seven individuals—John Anderson, MS, ATC, Fran Babich, MS, ATC, Tanya Dargusch, LAT, ATC, Katherine Dieringer, EdD, LAT, ATC, MaryBeth Horodyski, LAT, ATC, FNATA, Jeffrey McKibbin, MEd, LAT, ATC, and Michael O’Shea, MA, ATC, LAT—exemplify what it means to live a life of service, and were featured in the May NATA News.