Professor named NATA delegate

Susan Walker Yeargin, assistant professor of athletic training at ISU, will be adding another exceptional opportunity to her long list of outstanding athletic training work.

Yeargin was recently appointed as the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) delegate to the American Heart Association's International First Aid Science Advisory Board. "I was asked by the NATA to represent our organization," Yeargin said.

The NATA is the professional governing organization for certified athletic trainers.

In her new appointment, Yeargin will be helping to determine which topics related to emergency first aid are important to include in first aid guidelines that are presented and given internationally to all organization that teach first aid or individuals who perform first aid in their jobs.

Yeargin said she plans to bring her expertise in the recognition and treatment of exertional heat illnesses.

"Currently the first aid guidelines do not address exertional heat illness nor hydration," Yeargin said."With my representation on the board, the hope is to add sound guidelines on how to treat these illnesses."

Yeargin and The International First Aid Science Advisory Board will be meeting to research and revise current first aid guidelines throughout her appointment from 2007 to 2010.

"The most recent guidelines were published in 2005," Yeargin said. "We will determine which of those topics are still supported by research, which need updated, which need to be added." If a new topic is to be added to the guidelines, the board will choose different representatives on the board to complete the necessary guidelines on the topic.

Yeargin said she will be in charge of researching the most recent and up-to-date literature on the exertional heat illness treatment.

Yeargin not only brings her expertise on heat illness to the board but an athletic trainer's perspective as well.

An athletic trainer's point of view is critical, she said, because this profession commonly is a first responder in life-threatening and non life-threatening situations.

"Not only can I provide information on the importance of teaching people how to treat exertional heat illnesses," Yeargin said. "I can also speak to other emergency matters as well."

Yeargin teaches human anatomy and other athletic training classes, both undergraduate and gradate courses currently. She started teaching at ISU this fall.

"If I can help someone, anywhere, appropriately treat an exertional heat illness or any other emergency situation appropriately through these guidelines and therefore save a life, it is definitely all worth it," she said.