Beran's injury brings about many issues

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Lincoln East junior Brady Beran remains in critical condition after he had brain surgery at BryanLGH West Medical Center late Friday night.

He was injured, helped to the sideline, then later collapsed. He had brain surgery, and friends, classmates and family are all praying for a recovery.

In the meantime, the reaction to his injury and how it was immediately handled has taken on the personality of a swarm of bees.

n The questions start with, "Was Beran's health compromised by the fact it took longer than a few minutes for the ambulance to arrive and care for Beran?"

I could not find a neurologist to respond to the query on the record. It seems logical that the quicker any bleeding inside the brain is tended to the better. Lincoln Fire Department personnel, a certified trainer and other medical personnel were working in a natural order as quickly as possible for Beran's benefit after he suffered a seizure on the sidelines.

n Did Lincoln Public Schools sacrifice safety for budget?LPS saved $3,800 last year and more this year by cutting on-site ambulance service. LPS felt secure enough in the average response time of 4.8 minutes to turn down offers from private citizens to cover the cost.

Now, LPS is willing to accept donations (436-1612) and will have ambulances on site at varsity games the remainder of the season. LPS and Nebraska Wesleyan turned down offers of free or drastically discounted ambulance services outside of Lincoln because the contract with the Lincoln Fire Department does not allow it.

n About $14,000 of your tax dollars pay for 70 or so Lincoln police to work overtime to monitor Nebraska football games (not including traffic control). LPS funds (your tax dollars) pay for LPD officers to staff city public school athletic events. But funds were cut for paramedics at football games at relatively the same rate.

n No ambulance is on site for junior varsity, reserve and freshman football games or any other Lincoln high school sports. Nor have there been ambulances on site for football practices.

n It makes some sense that varsity players are typically larger, stronger and faster than the JVs. The varsity players hit harder and deliver a greater blow, thus creating a greater risk of severe injury. For instance, you rarely hear of severe head injuries in midget football games, yet the equipment is relatively the same.

See HAMBLETON, Page 3C

n Hambleton

Continued from Page 1C

n The Huskers have physicians, certified trainers, an anesthesiologist, the Red Cross and the city paramedics with an ambulance ($78 per hour) on the sidelines for every game. They also have emergency help available for all football practices and most other sports practices as well and they charge $50 and up for a ticket. Nebraska Wesleyan took a $50-per-hour option with one paramedic and an ambulance (that cannot transport the injured player) on site at games.

n In some Nebraska cities, the rescue squads volunteer time to staff games. In some rural Nebraska cities, there is no rescue squad, no trainer or any other medical help immediately available. For that reason, the Nebraska School Activities Association has no policy about ambulances or medical personnel on site at games but ...

n The Huskers and the NSAA pay for ambulance, Red Cross, paramedics and certified trainers to be on site for the state football finals, state volleyball finals, state basketball finals and state wrestling championships but not at district competitions across the state.

n Football safety is light years ahead of standards of just 20 years ago. Helmets must meet a safety standard. More and better medical advice is available. Ask anybody over 40 years old who played high school football, and they'll tell you they were told not to drink water and told to take salt tablets and eat steak before a big game. Football-related deaths, once as high as 70 per years, dropped to three last year and two of those occurred from high school football game injuries.

n Beran is apparently the first Lincoln high school athlete in more than 30 years to suffer a life-threatening brain injury in high school competition.

n Catastrophic injuries related to football in Nebraska are few. Since the mid-1980s, there appears to have been three cases involving football injuries that required the catastrophic insurance carried by the NSAA.

n The Center for Disease Control said in 2001 that 1.5 million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury each year. The leading cause is of brain injuries and subsequent death is motor vehicle accidents. No. 2 on the list is falls. No. 3 is work-related accidents, followed by recreational sports.

(People sitting in the stands are almost four times more at risk of a head injury driving to and from the game, and climbing the stadium, than those people playing the game.)

n About 10 percent of college football players and almost 20 percent of high school football players sustain brain injuries. Varsity football accounts for about 63 percent of the cases of traumatic brain injuries in high school athletics. Wrestling accounts for 10.5 percent of high school sports brain injuries, girls soccer for 6.2 percent, boys soccer 5.7 percent, girls basketball 5.2 percent, boys basketball 4.2 percent and softball 2.1 percent.

n Every parent and participant signs a consent form that indicates participation can result in injuries, some catastrophic and some resulting in death.

n As the late Vince Aldrich, longtime Lincoln Pius X football coach said once, if you eliminated the four hours spent attending a football game - playing, cheerleading, playing in the band, watching friends play - you'd probably have more kids involved in serious accidents on a Friday night.

Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or khambleton@;journalstar.com.