Staff Report

With temperatures lately soaring into the mid- to upper-90s, Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital is making ice tubs available for local high school athletics trainers to keep overheated

student athletes cooled down.

Tubs have been donated to highs schools in Wheelersburg and Ironton in Ohio and Russell, Boyd, Ashland, Raceland and Fairview in Kentucky.

“The National Athletic Trainers Association has guidelines in place for dealing with football players during the kind of extreme temperatures we’ve seen recently,” said Chris Crum, OLBH wellness coordinator.

“These ice tubs will provide another means for trainers to help keep their players hydrated and cool, and in emergency situations can help prevent an overheated player from suffering a heatstroke.

“This piece of equipment will be a valuable part of a coach’s emergency action plan and the donation came at a great time with preseason practice underway,” Crum said.

The tubs are large enough to accomodate a large football player, according to a press release from the hospital.

They were made availble through a donation to the OLBH Foundation, a local philanthropic organization.

The idea for the tubs came from orthopedic surgeon Laura Reese. Reese suggested the ice-tubs because of an event her husband experienced. OLBH Foundation Vice President Scott Reese served as conditioning coach at Marshall University, where he experienced first-hand the benefit of the ice-tubs.

“We had a scary situation where one of our players was on his way to a full-blown heatstroke,” Reese said.

“We were able to quickly place him in an ice-tub. The ability to get him into ice so quickly likely saved his life,” Reese said. “Ready access to a way to cool athletes will be just as valuable a training tool for our local high schools. We’re pleased to be able to make this happen.”