Orig. Post February 19, 2015 by Jess Seabolt, TheStatehouseFile.com | Re-Post February 23, 2015
INDIANAPOLIS – Legislation that would expand the reach of concussion awareness, diagnosis, and treatment in student athletes passed the Senate on Thursday.
Under current law, high school athletes who are suspected of suffering a concussion are required to sit out of practice or games until they are cleared by a health care provider. Senate Bill 403, authored by Sen. Timothy Lanane, D-Anderson, would extend that requirement to athletes in grades 5-8.
The bill also extends concussion training requirements to the coaches of a “number of sports in addition to football including cheerleading,” said Lanane.
Current law only requires that of high school football coaches. That training would have to be sport-specific.
Lanane said applying the concussion guidelines to younger students could help them avoid problems later.
Michael Duerson, brother of former NFL star and two-time Super Bowl champion Dave Duerson, testified for the bill in committee. He has firsthand experience with the effects of concussions.
Dave Duerson committed suicide in 2011 and left a note asking that his brain be studied. Researchers found he had Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy due to the concussions he received during his career.
Michael Duerson also suffered a concussion during his time as an Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis basketball player that paralyzed half his body for six months. Duerson said that the hardships continued throughout his life as an engineer and now he is unable to be in the workforce due to the effects of the concussion.
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The events led Michael Duerson to create the Dave Duerson Athletic Safety Fund, a program that aims to support and benefit student athletes in all sports. Duerson said he supports SB 403 and its motive to further help children dealing with concussions.
The bill had its critics, including Bobby Cox, commissioner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association.
Cox said in a committee meeting that the IHSAA already requires that coaches take a free and generalized concussion course. He said the bill’s requirement for sport-specific courses is “unnecessary and cumbersome.” He stood by the IHSAA’s current education program and said that it has already served millions of coaches nationwide.
Jolene Bracale, program coordinator for Student Health Services in the Indiana Department of Education, also spoke against the specialized courses.
Bracale said that the concussion courses that currently exist are more beneficial since they are free and general so that they can cover many areas at once. Bracale also said that football coaches could keep their existing training course while a general one could be offered to all other coaches.
“Head injuries at a young age have far-reaching complications from which we must protect all our athletes,” said Lanane in a press release, because during 5th and 6th grade children are at a crucial developmental stage.
The bill passed 45-4 and now moves to the House.
Jess Seabolt is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.