COLOMBUS, Ohio – Preparation is important when it comes to events that are as high as the Arnold Sports Festival.
Especially for medical emergency preparation.
“Athletes are constantly training. They are constantly trying to improve themselves and get better. Dr. Brad Gable, simulation director at Ohio Health Systems, said:
They say “practice will be perfect,” and this group of sports medicine doctors makes sure they are practicing until they get it right.
“They are constantly working to make themselves better. Make sure the athletes are as safe as possible, and to do that, it reaches the top when everything can actually practice what we’ve been planning,” Gable said.
The Ohio Health Arnold Sports Festival Medical Team and Columbus Fire are leading simulation training at the Columbus Convention Center to prepare for a medical emergency.
“From cardiac events where someone else’s heart needs to be reopened, to head injuries, spinal injuries, then orthopedic injuries, even soft tissue, I’ve got fractures and bleeding, and I can now control it,” Gable said.
Dr. Ben Brinda is the director of the medical team. He has worked at the Arnold Sports Festival for the past 12 years and said some of the most common medical emergencies are biceps and pick ruptures, sprain, tension and neck injuries. He also said the emergency has changed over the years.
“Every year, we are constantly working towards continuous improvement, to train our teams better, to come up with new cases, new scenarios, things we may not have thought of in the past, and to constantly try to improve,” Bring said.
With over 20,000 athletes and hundreds of thousands of spectators, planning a medical emergency is important.
