Case Study: Adair County High School Sports Medicine

After receiving a Work Ready Skills Grant, the Adair County High School's Sports Medicine Program launched in the Fall of 2020 with more than 30 high school students enrolled. The program was created to expand the career pathways for students interested in health sciences. The purpose of career pathways. is to build a highly trained workforce to meet the current and future needs of local employers.

The grant provided funding for materials and equipment, but not for the teacher/athletic trainer position needed to expand Adair's Health Science offerings. According to Rebecca Cravens, MA, LAT, ATC, "The Adair School system was actually the last of the four schools in the district to provide a Certified Athletic Trainer for their student-athletes. The administration recognized the need, and also had a desire to expand the on-campus opportunities for the growing number of students pursuing the Health Science career pathway."

Through the dedication and hard work of one of the school counselors, the Vice Principal, the school board, Superintendent, and numerous others, the district was able to receive and utilize the Work Ready Skills Initiative to secure funding for the development of a sports medicine facility on the high school campus. Paired with a $39,000 match from the district, the grant provided enough funding to cover the remodeling of an existing classroom/lab as well as the purchase of all furniture and equipment needed to establish the facility.

The district was in charge of covering the annual salary for the athletic trainer selected to oversee the sports medicine program. This is where T.J. Health Columbia came in. With a desire to build rapport and provide continued support to the community, T.J. Health offered to provide half of the annual salary of a Certified Athletic Trainer, as well as provide a supervising physician for the ATC to practice under. Once the funding was secured, the district began searching for an athletic trainer interested in taking the reins for the development of the program, design of the facility, and purchase of all necessary supplies and equipment.


To complete their new learning  lab, Adair County High School in Columbia, KY recently chose The Athletic Edge to provide furniture and equipment. Rebecca Cravens, MA, LAT, ATC shares her experience working with The Athletic Edge.

4-Seat Tilt Taping Station

Q & A with Rebecca Cravens
MA, ATC, LAT | Adair County High School

Q: What challenges were you trying to solve by purchasing Athletic Edge equipment?
A: Our facility was a brand new project, so my goal was to stretch the funds from the grant in order to purchase as much equipment, supplies, and furniture as possible. I had an idea of the layout I felt would work best for the room, and had measured each wall, floor, and crevice of the facility (by hand with a tape measure) so I knew down to the inch how much room I had for treatment tables, a taping station, a whirlpool table, modality carts, and mat tables. I also knew there needed to be plenty of room for a classroom portion of the facility, so it took some creativity to figure out the best way for the room to flow, and just how much equipment I could fit into the spaces without breaking that flow. AE’s customer service and online descriptions made it easy to find exact measurements of the equipment as I searched through options, and I was able to piece together the facility one area at a time without having to guess whether the furniture would fit in the available space or not!

Q: What made Athletic Edge products stand out from others you considered?
A: I absolutely LOVE the professional, quality look of wood furniture, and knew I wanted to include our school colors in the furniture I selected. The Athletic Edge allowed me to have the altogether professional look I was going for while integrating our school colors, including our logo, AND the price point for the products I was looking for were unmatched! The customer service was also better and more efficient than other companies I had worked with when gathering ideas and quotes for the facility.

Q: How does your new athletic training room equipment meet the needs of your students, athletes, and athletic trainers?
A: My school district has never had an athletic trainer or a designated space for medical care of athletes, so the addition of this facility/equipment has been a HUGE upgrade for our athletics program as well as for students in the health sciences career pathway! I now have a designated space to provide ongoing care for my athletes, even throughout the school day if necessary. The price point of Athletic Edge tables and equipment allowed me to purchase enough to easily accommodate the volume of athletes and students while still leaving enough funding to also purchase rehab and modality equipment, classroom supplies, and supplies for the athletic year. Athletes, coaches, and parents have benefited greatly from having this space available right on campus, and the professional look has brought quite the “WOW” factor with it. Students and community members walk in, see the beautifully branded and school color-coordinated furniture throughout the room, and their first response is usually, “WOW! What IS this place?” I love being able to hear those reactions. I feel in a round-about way the awesome quality and look of the AE furniture has helped to restore some of the school spirit feelings that were lost during the shut-downs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Q: What is your favorite Athletic Edge product(s) and why?
A: Honestly, the logoed rolling stools are one of the most popular items in my room. Students rush to the classroom just so they can grab a rolling stool to sit on during class times. My Superintendent has even come to visit the facility and asked where she could get one of the stools because they look so great! They also make it super easy for me to move table-to-table to provide treatments for athletes. I love being able to adjust the height to the level I need according to what I’m doing.

Photo courtesy of Adair County School

I also personally love the treatment tables with the logo slip covers. I love that I was able to select exactly what type of table I wanted, and the features I wanted them to have. The raised backs add a lot of versatility to the tables, and I have been easily able to accomplish everything I need to. The logo slip covers really give a professional finishing touch, and I love that they give a college-level look to the room.

Stor-Edge Medical Base Cabinets with branding

 
Q: Which Athletic Edge product features are the most valuable to you and your students, and how has new equipment made life easier for you?
A: I love having the side shelves on the taping station because it allows me to easily separate the taping/wrapping supplies for my classes from the supplies for athletics while still keeping both easily accessible. I also love having the pull out drawers in my taping station! It makes the process of finding exactly what supplies I need super quick and easy, and also makes it much easier to re-stock items without having to dig around in the drawer trying to figure out what I have and what needs re-stocked. It also makes things easier for students to organize.

Q: Why did you decide to work with The Athletic Edge?
A: I selected Athletic Edge because I loved the professional look of their products, and really liked that I was able to personalize everything with colors and logos. It brings such a great school-pride element to the room, and that was exactly what I was looking for when selecting the furniture I wanted to put in the room. Starting a brand new sports medicine program in a secondary school district, I needed products that would be sturdy and durable to high school use while still having a price point that would allow me to purchase other items needed for treatment of athletic injuries, rehabilitation tools, and supplies/tools for classes as well. AE gave me exactly that.

I was able to purchase treatment tables, taping stations, a mat table, a sink and cabinets, enough rolling stools to have one at each treatment/rehab area, several modality carts, and a rehab storage tower all with logos and school colors. In addition to the price point and professional look of the products, the customer service team was wonderful in helping me to find exactly what I needed! They were accommodating with the colors I wanted, and offered alternative suggestions if what I wanted was unavailable in a particular color shade. I ran into some difficulties when gathering quotes and options from other companies, but AE customer service was en pointe and super helpful every time I had questions or needed anything! I also really appreciated their working relationship with Medco, the company I used for my supplies and equipment. It made the ordering process much smoother and easier as I was able to order items to stock the athletic training facility at the same time as the furniture, which is much simpler when working with a purchase order process.