'Play It Safe' event stresses concussion awareness, injury prevention

CINCINNATI - "Play it Safe," the 2012 Injury Prevention Symposium & Expo, will provide a broad overview of everyday safety from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, June 15, at Drake Center. Topics will include sports-related injuries, first aid, emergency preparedness planning, injury prevention, car safety, falls, acute care and sideline treatment.

The program, which is sponsored by UC Health, offers CEU credits and features members of the University of Cincinnati (UC) faculty. It is targeted to athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, occupational therapists, physical therapists, school nurses, law enforcement professionals, athletes and parents.

The program will address the prevention and treatment of many types of injuries, including mild traumatic brain injuries, or concussions. Concussions, which are drawing increasing attention and concern, occur about 300,000 times each year in sports.

During a concussion, UC experts say, some of the complex, interconnected brain cells known as neurons are injured. The brain needs time to recover after a concussion, and athletes who suffer one concussion are at increased risk of having another. Repeated concussions are cumulative.

Speakers will be members of the University of Cincinnati (UC) faculty: Norberto Andaluz, MD, a neurosurgeon with the Mayfield Clinic and director of neurotrauma at the UC Neuroscience Institute; Sheital Bavishi, DO, director of brain injury at Healthsouth, Drake Center; Jon Divine, MD, MS, a sports medicine specialist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Jonathan Ratcliff, MD, an emergency medicine resident at UC.

Cost is $20 for professionals; students may attend at no charge. Register at www.uchealth.com/playitsafe. Registration deadline is May 30, 2012. Contact (513) 558-1810.

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The Mayfield Clinic, a single-specialty academic neurosurgery group, is recognized as one of the nation's leading physician organizations for clinical care, education, and research of the spine and brain. Supported by 21 neurosurgeons, six neurointensivists, an interventional radiologist, and a pain specialist, the Clinic treats 25,000 patients from 35 states and 13 countries in a typical year. Mayfield's physicians have pioneered surgical procedures and instrumentation that have revolutionized the medical art of neurosurgery for brain tumors and neurovascular diseases and disorders.

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The Mayfield Education & Research Foundation exists to advance the care of patients with brain and spine disorders through leading-edge education and research.