Head, Heart, Heat

NCSA is proud to partner with NSAA to promote the Head, Heart, Heat Program

With the climate of today’s high schools sports as it pertains to safety, the NSAA has put a tremendous amount of effort in helping its member schools be better prepared for emergency situations.  In recent years, the NSAA has worked closely with its Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC) as well as the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to develop educational protocol for all of our member high school coaches.

Three of the major concerns nationwide for high school athletes are concussions, sudden cardiac arrest and external heat illness.  Due to these concerns, the NSAA is embarking on a new initiative called Head, Heart and Heat.  The Head refers to concussions, Heart deals with sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and Heat addresses external heat illness.  This initiative is being designed to help our coaches and administrators be better prepared for these situations by educating them on the best practices for prevention and management of each.

Head - Concussions and concussion awareness has been front and center for the last 3-5 years thanks in large part to the media visibility that the NFL has given to the subject. In 2013 the NSAA began requiring that all member high school coaches take an online concussion training course provided by the NFHS annually http://nfhslearn.com/courses/61037/concussion-in-sports.  The ultimate goal is to educate these coaches on the signs and symptoms of a concussion, what to do when a concussion is diagnosed and how to manage the concussion after diagnosis.  These are all are vital components to insuring that the athlete has the best chance of a full recovery.

Heart - Cardiac conditions and specifically sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) are the leading cause of death nationwide amongst youth athletes in sport. Sudden cardiac arrest happens when the heart unexpectedly and abruptly quits beating.  Several youth athletes die each year from SCA.  The use of an automated external defibrillator (AED) on someone within 3 minutes of sudden cardiac arrest increases the chances of survival to 70%.  Being able to shock someone within one minute of collapse raises that survival rate to 90%.  This issue is not only for athletes, as estimated 20% of the US population gathers on school grounds at some point during the school year.  This increases the likelihood of a cardiac emergency happening on the premises. The NFHS also offers a free, online, educational course for Sudden Cardiac Arrest available to anyone http://nfhslearn.com/courses/61032/sudden-cardiac-arrest.

Heat - There are several types of external heat illnesses.  Heat cramps and heat exhaustion are very common and are often not severe.  External heat stroke (EHS), the most severe type, may result in significant consequences and even fatalities.  The most telling statistic is that heat illness is the third leading cause of death in high school athletes in the United States. Ironically, death from EHS is completely preventable if quickly recognized and treated appropriately.  The NFHS again offers a free, online, educational course that is designed to educate you on Heat Illness Prevention http://nfhslearn.com/courses/34000/heat-illness-prevention.

Knowing what to do in each of these emergency situations is vital to the school administration, the coaches and school personnel.  In the summer of 2015, the NSAA, with the help of the NFHS Foundation provided each of our member schools with the "Anyone Can Save a Life" program http://www.anyonecansavealife.org/.  This program is an emergency action planning guide for after-school practices and events.  It is designed to develop emergency action plans that are sport and venue specific and give a detailed, coordinated response to any emergency--specifically concussions, sudden cardiac arrest and heat illness.  The program also involves students by establishing a Student Response Team which educates students about what to do in emergency situations as well as empowering them to be a part of the coordinated response in emergency situations.

Due to the significance of these three issues, the NSAA, is partnering with the Nebraska Council of School Administrators (NCSA) to offer educational opportunities at a couple of the designated conferences hosted by the NCSA.  The first of those opportunities will be at Administrator Days which will be held in July of 2016 at the Younes Conference Center in Kearney, NE.

We want to thank the NCSA for allowing us to be a part of the educational process for the administrators attending the conference.  Being prepared for emergencies of this nature are necessary to ensure that the best outcome for all involved.

Ron Higdon
Assistant Director
NSAA