TATS Capitol Hill Day - Wednesday, March 6th, 2019

The TATS Governmental Affairs Committee would like to announce our upcoming Capitol Hill Day. We would like for athletic trainers from throughout the state of Tennessee to join us in Nashville to meet with your State Legislators and discuss topics important to the athletic training profession in Tennessee. This year’s TATS Capitol Hill Day will be held on Wednesday, March 6th, 2019.

In order to best arrange meetings with legislators, we would like all of those interested in joining us to sign-up via the form below. If you are unable to sign-up but happen to be available to join us on March 6th, please know that all Tennessee ATs are welcomed.

Sign-up today!!!! More details will follow soon.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest Legislation

On January 1st, 2016 new legislation related to sudden cardiac arrest prevention in Tennessee will go into effect. The new legislation was passed by the Tennessee State Legislature in April 2015. The legislation is similar in language and scope to the previously enacted concussion legislation in Tennessee. This legislation will have tremendous impact in preventing injury to the youth athletes of Tennessee at all levels. The impact to athletic trainers in Tennessee is also significant and requires that all ATs are extremely aware of these new changes in legislation.

Recently more details have been updated on the Tennessee Department of Health website, including resources for education of athletes, parents, coaches, and other school officials. The required forms related to this legislation have also now been made available. This information has been conveyed by the TSSAA to all secondary schools in Tennessee, however the legislation has broader impact than just at the secondary school level. TATS encourages all members and the general public to take time to review the available resources from the Tennessee Department of Health at http://www.tn.gov/health/topic/sudden-cardiac-arrest-prevention-act/.

NATM Receives Proclamations Throughout Tennessee

Members of TATS throughout the state were instrumental in promoting the athletic training profession throughout the month of March. The local governments of several Tennessee cities and counties recognized March as National Athletic Training Month through government proclamations. Some of the areas that received proclamations included:

• City of Murfreesboro
• Knox County
• City of Knoxville
• Jefferson County

NATM was also recognized with a proclamation presented to TATS members from the Tennessee State Legislature while we were visiting Capitol Hill in early April. Below you will find several of the proclamations from the various parts of the state. If you received a proclamation from your local government representatives and are not mentioned here, please let us know at communications@tnata.org.

Here the Mayor of Murfreesboro is joined by local athletic trainers during the signing of a proclamation for National Athletic Training Month.

Front Row from L to R: Chance Ragsdale, Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland, Brad Rohling Back Row from L to R: Blake Sissom, Amanda Januchowski, and Stephen Maples Not Pictured (but present): Kristi Phillips

Text of the Proclamation from Madeline Rogers, Mayor of the City of Knoxville

TATS Day On The Hill

On Tuesday April 7th, 17 TATS members, ascended onto Capitol Hill for our “day on the hill”. We were accompanied by Zach Bates, our legislative liaison, who had set several appointments with legislators in advance. While we did not have a specific want or need from lawmakers at this time we were able to continue to foster relationships previously established as well as begin some anew.

It was a good opportunity for athletic trainers to say thank you for the work that had been done with regard to the concussion bill and the protection of health and wellbeing of the athletes that we serve. We even had one legislator who agreed to sign on to support the sudden cardiac bill when we made him aware of the current legislation.

Another byproduct of our meeting was the initiation of talks, with the members of the executive board, to develop a strategic plan as to how we go about strengthening our relationships with legislators and being more of a presence on Capitol Hill.

A special shout out goes to the 10 MTSU athletic training students who showed to support our efforts; Amanda Januchowski, Brandi Caruso, Chris Miles, Colin Biegas, Dabrisha Garner, Isaiah Foster, Matt Warner, McKenzie Leonard, Pali Dingler, and Trey Link.