Sports concussion program opens at Harborview

Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center has opened a new center to evaluate young athletes who have had head injuries and provide training to teachers, coaches, parents and others involved in school sports on how to prevent, assess and treat concussions.

The new center, called the UW Medicine/Seattle Children’s Sports Concussion Program, was launched to help schools and coaches comply with a new state law requiring young athletes who have shown signs of concussion to obtain clearance from a health-care provider before returning to play.

The law was prompted by the case of Zachery Lysted, who in 2006 suffered a serious head injury while playing junior-high-school football game but was sent back into the game after no one recognized he had the signs of a concussion. Shortly thereafter Lysted collapsed and required emergency surgery for brain hemorrhaging.

The Harborview-based program will include care from health-care providers with expertise in neuropsychology, rehabilitation medicine, radiology and sports medicine.

To learn more:

• Visit the National Library of Medicine’s Medline Plus page on concussions.
• Read the full text of the  “Zachery Lysted Law”.
• Visit the Brain Injury Association of Washington: www.biawa.org
• Visit the Harborview Medical Center Web site.

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