"When schools develop emergency
action plans for athletic events, the athletic director must try to think of every scenario possible and plan accordingly.
They must consider strategic planning and have a detailed protocol for every possible event and every participant including
players, coaches, spectators and support personnel.
One evening an unfortunate event occurred
at a girls' basketball game where an official working the game slipped on the floor and fell backward hitting his head
and knocking himself unconscious. The result was a very severe concussion leaving him with the inability to communicate
effectively for a 24-hour period of time. The established emergency procedures went into effect, and all was in order
except for one simple but vital thing: the official did not bring any personal or medical information with him except
for his driver's license and insurance card. This man lived alone so it was difficult to contact any immediate family.
Needless to say, I spent the next 5 hours traveling with him to the hospital emergency room to ensure he had someone with
him who had some basic information about the incident and to assure he was able to either be admitted or had a means of getting
home at 1:00 AM.
Effective management of this incident could have been expedited at the school and at the
hospital if the official had emergency medical and contact information on him while he was officiating. In this incident,
ID2go would have been the piece of the emergency plan to make the transition from the school event
to the hospital smoother. In other incidents, ID2go could make the difference between officiating
another day or becoming a fatality."
~ Bill Whigham, Athletic Director
