Beacon Ortho: Local HS Athletic Trainers Provide Amazing Care During Pandemic

Beacon Ortho is recognizing athletic trainers from ECHS, SDHS, and LHS.

(Dearborn County, Ind.) - All Dearborn County high schools (and many Ohio schools) partner with Beacon Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine to have thoroughly trained and certified athletic training staff onsite to serve their student athletes. Even in this time of COVID 19 and social distancing, athletes still need care. They need fast and accurate diagnosis of injuries. In addition to onsite help with training, care and rehab, these trainers support student athletes’ health and can improve performance.

East Central High School

Samantha "Sammy" Cliffe. Photo provided. 

Samantha (“Sammy”) Cliffe, ATC (Athletic Trainer Certified), has returned to serve East Central High School. A Northern Kentucky University graduate, she credits her career inspiration to her HS athletic trainer who “helped me with injuries I suffered while playing sports.”

Cliffe’s experience with student athletes inspires her to further know the whole patient – as an athlete and a person. She says that makes her career rewarding. She works closely with parents, coaches and the school’s athletics staff, in addition to the athletes themselves. That means she is rightfully an important part of the EC community.

While she enjoys working with all the athletes, she admits that football is her favorite sport. “There is nothing like Friday night lights and East Central football. I love taking care of the Trojans. And even during the pandemic, I truly have the best job in the world.”

Lawrenceburg High School

Brandi Goad. Photo provided.

Brandi Goad, ATC, is from Milford and a graduate of Mount St. Joseph University. She has returned as the athletic trainer partner provided by Beacon Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine at Lawrenceburg High School. When not working sporting events for LHS, she and her husband Scott enjoy hiking, rock climbing or kayaking.

After having her ACL surgically reconstructed in high school, she was inspired to study health science and pursue a career in athletic training. “I came back stronger and faster,” said Goad. “And I give credit for that improvement to my athletic trainer’s patience and skill set.” She loves baseball but acknowledges that she is drawn to the excitement of Friday night football. She doesn’t like to choose between teams and athletes, saying that that she loves all of her “children” equally. Goad also noted that she loves the wider Lawrenceburg community and feels very lucky to be a part of it. She enjoys her career so much that on most days, she “doesn’t feel it’s work at all.”

South Dearborn High School

Kyler Hendricks. Photo provided.

Kyler Hendricks, ATC, has begun his second year as athletic trainer at South Dearborn High School. Prior to that, he worked at Goshen High School through Dreyer Physical Therapy, a Beacon Orthopaedics Partner. He is a proud alumnus of Northern Kentucky University.

Hendricks played baseball and golf at Connor High School (in Hebron, KY) and still loves both sports. He was never badly injured, but his best friend suffered a severe football injury to his hand. Watching that friend endure surgery, pins and having to work with the trainer to regain grip strength was a motivation for Hendricks to pursue athletic training as a career. He understands the frustrations that go with being injured. “Now, I enjoy helping to guide athletes to recovery,” he said. He strives to be a great resource of information, support and training that they need to come back better than before.

Certified athletic trainers like Brandie, Sammy and Kyler are the frontline of care, building relationships and treating young athletes, day in and day out and being onsite for all sports. In addition, Beacon provides its partner schools a physician on the sideline at all home football games and other events throughout the year, showing the care, guidance and protection its partner schools receive every day.

Dr. David Argo, Beacon orthopaedic surgeon says, “These trainers are an extension of care from our office straight to the fields and courts on which student athletes compete.” He is proud of them and feels strongly that his teammates serving “Eagle Country” provide the very best orthopaedic care to not only the athletes, but to their families and the entire community, as well.

Appointments are available at Beacon West, Lawrenceburg and Batesville, along with Saturday morning injury clinics and urgent care at Erlanger and Summit Woods. Striving to ensure patient and staff health, Beacon offers Telehealth Video Visits and when seeing patients in person, they are using all approved safety protocols, including temperature checks, masks, hand sanitizing.

Providing a safe environment to diagnose and recommend the next steps for any injury is always the right thing to do. If you need to talk with a medical professional about knee pain, please visit our website to make an appointment or call 513-354-3700 to schedule an appointment.