Marshfield Clinic discontinues free athletic trainer services for schools

Area schools are weighing their options after Marshfi eld Clinic Health System (MCHS) announced it will no longer be providing athletic training services free of charge at over 30 local schools, including Greenwood, Loyal and Spencer.

As reported by Nathaniel Underwood in the March 22 Tribune Phonograph, licensed athletic trainers through Marshfield Clinic currently provide on-site medical evaluations and treatments during games and practices. When injuries occur, athletic trainers are the first to diagnose and potentially treat these injuries, and make recommendations to seek further treatment at a medical facility if they deem it necessary. These initial examinations can be especially important for serious injuries like concussions, where a missed diagnosis could lead to greater injury if the player is allowed to go back into the game.

MCHS has offered three paid options for school districts to continue to receive athletic trainer services.

The first tier will see the clinic offering the time allocation of a full-time athletic trainer, in which the school can request up to five visits per week during the academic year and three visits per week during the summer months. The annual cost to the district for these services is set at $80,000, with additional costs of $40 per hour for away events or events that the school is hosting but not participating in.

The second tier offers half-time services of an athletic trainer at half the cost, or $40,000 annually. Rather than putting a number on the exact number of visits per week that will be allocated, assigned athletic training staff and the school must work together to ensure the correct frequency of visits. The same hourly charges found in the first tier apply to the second tier for any potential away games. Two schools could share services in this option.

The third tier would cost about $26,000 per year and cover about 13 hours a week (one third of full time). Three schools could share one trainer in this option.

Local school districts are considering how to fit this service into already-tight school budgets. Currently, the Loyal School District shares athletic trainer services with Abbotsford. The trainer is at school two days a week but there’s also some flexibility to visit as needed. For example, if an athlete is injured in a game Tuesday night, the trainer might visit the school Wednesday and assess the injury to determine if it’s severe enough to warrant a doctor visit.

“We feel it is a major asset of our athletics. The days of having a coach determine whether that student-athlete can go or not are gone, and I think it’s something that we desperately need for the safety of our students and liability,” said District Administrator Chris Lindner.

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The Greenwood, Loyal and Neillsville district administrators met last week to discuss options for sharing athletic training services.

“We’re just looking at different ways to tackle this,” said Lindner. “We don’t know what we’re doing yet.”

Lindner said one of the challenges with sharing with other school districts is scheduling and figuring out who gets the athletic trainer for which games, because, for example, three schools might all have home football games on the same evening and the athletic trainer can only be at one. There would be various details to work out with any shared arrangement.

Spencer District Administrator Mike Endreas said he had also been in conversations with other school administrators about sharing an athletic trainer, because the $80,000 full-time option simply was not financially feasible. Currently Spencer’s athletic trainer is there roughly 13 to 20 hours a week.

“We’re looking at any and all options right now and what’s the best option to meet our needs… For the safety of our kids, especially in collision sports, it’s important to find someone with that training that can be on site,” he said.

Marshfield Clinic declined the TRG’s request for comment.

The school districts have until April 21 to re-sign with Marshfield Clinic. If they decide not to re-sign, services will terminate June 30.

Editor Valorie Brecht contributed to this report.