NATA Now

During the COVID-19 pandemic, athletic trainers have stepped up to help their communities and local health care systems in multiple ways, including screening, telemedicine and infrastructure. NATA will share what athletic trainers everywhere are doing to care for their patients, communities and themselves during this time.

Since March, NATA has created and continuously updated a COVID-19 resource page on the NATA website. We want to make access to information as easy as possible. The page covers topics such as Go4Ellis, statements and additional resources for state leaders and health care professionals.

Every day it seems as if there is a new advancement in technology. Whether a new device or app, it seems as if there is a continuous change. For athletic trainers, integrating technology into their everyday clinical work is necessary in order to keep up with the present as well as other health care professions.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, athletic trainers have stepped up to help their local health care systems in multiple ways, including screening, telemedicine and infrastructure. NATA will share what athletic trainers everywhere are doing to care for their patients, communities and themselves during this time.

By Paul Geisler, EdD, ATC, AT EducATionalist Community Cabinet Chair

As we deal with the impacts of COVID-19, there is no better time to be involved with the AT EducATionalist Community, and to talk with your fellow educators about the issues impacting you. There are two steps to being involved in the community: join and act.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, athletic trainers have stepped up to help their communities and local health care systems in multiple ways, including screening, telemedicine and infrastructure. NATA will share what athletic trainers everywhere are doing to care for their patients, communities and themselves during this time.

Megan Wahl, MS, LAT, ATC

Athletic trainer at Duke Sports Medicine

Durham, North Carolina

The NATA Clinical Symposia & AT Expo is the premier educational event for athletic trainers and other sports medicine professionals. The current climate presents the event industry, as a whole, with unprecedented challenges and considerations, the most important of which for NATA is the overall safety and well-being of our members. 

As we all adjust to a new reality and abide by shelter-in-place orders and/or social distancing guidelines, now is a great time to utilize technology to stay in contact with your fellow athletic trainers and communities.

The NATA Communications Toolkit was created to provide best practices to district and state associations when it comes to distributing information to their membership. It covers everything from a sample communications strategic plan and measuring social media efforts to the NATA Verbal Style Guide and logo guide for districts and states.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, athletic trainers have stepped up to help their communities and local health care systems in multiple ways, including screening, telemedicine and infrastructure. NATA will share what athletic trainers everywhere are doing to care for their patients, communities and themselves during this time.

By David Gallegos, MA, ATC, Cert. MDT

District Seven Director 

It is not unique to value history when considering the present and the future nor is it unique to document foundational efforts. It is unique, however, to appreciate the role our current decisions have in validating our past and even rarer to consider the value assigned by our daily interactions on our past, present and future professional capacities. It might even be a paradigm shift to realize our past defines our present, the present develops our future and the process is ever evolving.