Beverly Hospital's Campaign for Treating Concussions

ImPACT Program Tests for Traumatic Brain Injuries  

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), emergency departments in the U.S. treat nearly 175,000 sports-related traumatic brain injuries in children and adolescents each year.

Beverly High School is taking a step towards properly addressing the seriousness of head injuries caused by sports. Beverly Hospital launched a campaign for proactive treatment. Hospital staff administered a program called ImPACT that stands for Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing. The baseline test can be used later to determine if athletes can still play after a head injury or if they should receive further treatment.

"The baseline number allows us to go back after a student athlete suffered from a concussion and they will retake the ImPACT test," said Gerald MacKillop, Community Relations Manager at Beverly Hospital. "Today we set the baseline and, if somebody does get hurt, they go back and retake the test with one of our physicians and they see what that new number is. Then we put together the care plan."