Prep talk: Another emergency, another athletic trainer to the rescue
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Another athletic trainer to the rescue. For the third time in less than a year, a high school athletic trainer has helped stabilize a patient in distress.
Last week before the Camarillo-Oxnard football game was about to begin with the kickoff, athletic trainer Jessica Fortner of Oxnard noticed a Camarillo coach on the sideline suffering what she judged to be a seizure.
Fortner, 34, who used to run track at Oxnard, sprinted across the field as players looked on. She helped get defensive coordinator Tim Murphy on his side and began to render aid along with Camarillo’s athletic trainer and two EMTs who are Camarillo coaches. An ambulance arrived within three minutes.
Last month quick action by the soccer coach at San Clemente and the athletic trainer using an AED machine helped save a coach in cardiac arrest. And last spring, the athletic trainer at Culver City helped save a track athlete who went into cardiac arrest.
Murphy was back on the sideline coaching on Thursday night. He said tests were negative, but he plans to have additional tests taken.
“I was very lucky to do it where I was,” Murphy said.
The high schools in the Oxnard Union High School School District are fortunate. All but one have athletic trainers thanks to an agreement with St. John’s Regional Medical Center and Dignity Health.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
