As published in the September 21, 2006 Edition of the Dodgeville Chronicle

Athletic Trainer Joins Sports Medicine Team At Upland Hills Health

New Athletic Trainer Brad Vamstad joins the Upland Hills Health Sports Medicine team

by Jean Berns Jones

Upland Hills Health has a new staff member who spends most of his duty hours outside the hospital, working along the sidelines at Dodgeville and Mineral Point sports events.

Brad Vamstad, athletic trainer, is the newest addition to the Sports Medicine program at the Dodgeville hospital. He functions as the first line of defense in a network of Upland Hills therapists and doctors who serve the needs of area athletes.

“I’m usually the first person who sees the kids and from there I may refer them to a family practice physician or an orthopedic physician,” Vamstad said. “In some cases they don’t need to be referred but I can tape them, do rehabilitation at the school, and work with the coaches instead.”

Vamstad holds a masters degree in athletic training from Western Michigan University (2002). He received his bachelors degree in kinesiology, with emphasis in athletic training, at the UW-Madison. While in Madison he had a five-semester internship working with the Badgers sports teams.

Originally from Darlington where he attended high school, Vamstad has worked at a hospital in Two Rivers until recently moving his residence to Dodgeville. He started at Upland Hills Health on August 7, with the start of the high school football season.

“Sports medicine is an area we’ve been looking at expanding for a long time,” said Phil Swain, Director of Physical Therapy at the hospital. “Phil identified a need here for outreach to the community, because of our proximity,” explained Patricia Lawson, Director of Marketing and Public Relations. “It only makes common sense for young athletes to get these services close to home and not have to take half a day off from school and drive to Madison.”

“We had a lot of the pieces already in place with therapists and doctors with expertise here at the hospital,” Lawson added, “but Phil saw the need for us to have someone right out there in the schools working with the coaches.”

UW-Health in Madison has been and continues to be a contracted entity in both the Mineral Point and Dodgeville School Districts.

“The athletic trainers UW-Health sends out are skilled trainers and good trainers but unfortunately because of our location they’re only able to get out here a couple times a week for an hour or two during the school day,” Swain said. “We wanted to be able to supplement that service and start providing more athletic training coverage after school, during practices, and cover more events.”

“We’re volunteering our services to the schools in order to provide more athletic training time for the kids,” he continued. “We’re working collaboratively with UW-Health providing some extra hours at this point and working with coaches and athletic directors.”

Including the athletic training area, Upland Hills is developing an integrated sports medicine program that involves area physicians, hospital therapists, and the rehabilitation team.

“We want to make it a whole link so that parents and athletes have a real easy access to the whole spectrum of services,” Swain said. “We’d like people to be seen by Brad in the schools and then get sent where they need to go from there, quickly and in a timely manner, and hopefully get them back to playing their sports as soon as possible.” Students are starting to participate in contact sports at progressively earlier ages and medical personnel are seeing the ramifications of the stress on young bodies. It causes a need for athletic services that were not required by earlier generations at their age.

“Younger and younger they need that support of an organization that can help them not only when they are hurt, but an athletic trainer’s job is also to help them avoid injury -- giving them the knowledge of what they can do to compete in sports without having damage in either the short term or the long term,” Lawson said.

“Brad will often intervene with teaching techniques, exercise and various things than can be done to prevent the injuries from occurring in the first place,” Swain added.

When the school day ends, Vamstad is on hand at either Dodgeville or Mineral Point. He tapes kids up for practice, does rehabilitation, evaluates new injuries and communicates with the coaches.

“I try to hit each coach to see if they’re having any problems out there,” he said. “I service all sports and try to make as many events as possible. It’s football, cross country, soccer, and volleyball going on right now.”

“My goals are to get kids back playing as soon as possible but as safely as possible without risking any further injury,” Vamstad said. Having the trainer’s objective expertise at games and practices relieves stress for the coaches and makes parents feel more comfortable -- especially in cases where kids beg to play despite possible injuries.

“As a parent of a football player,” Lawson said, “I can tell you that during games it’s a good feeling to see that professional person with the expertise down there supporting the coaches on the field.”