All the congratulations to Jared Olsen, one of the athletic trainers on the Sports Medicine team at Therapy Services! Jared is assigned to Madison High School in Rexburg and in December was awarded a $20,000 grant for the athletic training program that he is developing at the school.
With some help from school administrators, the grant funds have been allocated to make three major upgrades to the current athletic training room. The first step, which is already complete, was to purchase a total of 5 new modular taping and treatment tables with built in cabinets. The second upgrade will be new non-slip flooring for the training room, and the third will be a mobile AED device.
“The room looks phenomenal for a high school training room–I don’t know if there is any high school in the state that has a training room like we have,” said Shayne Proctor, the Madison School District Athletic Director.
Jared not only makes himself available for athletes before and after practice, and attends as many games as is possible both home and away, but he has also started teaching a Sports Medicine class for interested students to introduce the career field and teach preventative measures for athletes.
“It’s always hard when new people come in, but he’s gained trust from everyone pretty quickly. The coaches trust him and can call him at any time when a student is injured or not performing like they could be and the kids feel very comfortable with him,” said Proctor.
The Sports Medicine program–which provides Madison High School with an on-site athletic trainer–is a funded partnership between Madison Memorial Hospital and Rehab Specialists of Idaho. The program is staffed by physical therapists and athletic trainers from the Therapy Services in and out patient clinic at Madison Memorial Hospital.
