There comes a time when the things you have either heard or
learned in the past come full circle.
That very thing occurred for LSU Athletic Training Alumni Jeff Gregory, ATC. A
little over a month ago Jeff, who is now the running backs coach at Neville
High School in Monroe Louisiana, was called to use the skills he had learned at
LSU as an athletic training student when one of his players collapsed on the field. Remembering his medical training from LSU, Jeff quickly
rushed to the 17 year old and began CPR.
With the help of the other coaches, Jeff was able to provide life sustaining care to the young athlete until emergency medical technicians arrived.
It was the combined effort of the other coaches, who cut the boy’s pads
off, ran to activate emergency services, as well as hooking up the AED that played an essential role in saving his
life. Jeff Gregory reached out to one of
his fellow LSU athletic training classmates, Lance Champagne, ATC, to share what had
happened and how he felt about the event.
In turn, Lance reached out to the staff at LSU, Jack Marucci, Andy Barker,
Shelly Mullenix, and Shawn Eddy, to thank them for preparing them so well for
those types of situations. In the e-mail
Lance said, “Jeff and I
talked on the phone last night. He talked about all the in-services and
the annual CPR/spine boarding/emergency situation “practice” we did as
students. He said he felt like that prepared him for his emergency
situation.” The LSU Athletic Training
Program and its staff have continued and expanded the annual pre-season in-services, which
are meant to keep students comfortable with performing the emergency care tasks
that they may be called to use one day. Lance wrote, “Looking back, those early
morning meetings seemed like such a pain and that you guys were
making us get up early as some sort of sick punishment, but it was all
worthwhile. I know I personally haven’t said it enough, but THANK
YOU to all of you for efforts to educate…” Jeff reached out to Jack the morning after the event to personally thank him for the mentorship and guidance over the years. Shelly Mullenix mentioned in response to Jeff's call that, "It is humbling to be able to think back out how fortunate we have been to have such great athletic training students come through this program. To know that a number of our kids (now adults) have played a role in saving the life of a someone's child is just incredible. Times like this make me proud to be a part of LSU." This story really hits home for me, as I am
sure it will for all past and presents students. We will never truly appreciate the emergency
training the Athletic Training Program provides for us, but we will when we are
called to use those skills. At that
time, we will realize how truly blessed we are to have people who care so much
about the quality of education and experience that we receive in the LSU
Athletic Training Program.
Below is a link to view an article about the event.
