MIAMI (WSVN) — A South Florida student athlete is getting to work to prevent and treat concussions in Miami-Dade County high schools.
Sixteen-year-old David Goldstein knows how devastating a concussion can be. Goldstein is a Ransom Everglades High School sophomore and has spent months living a nightmare after suffering a serious concussion while playing soccer.
After months of research and work, about 120 athletic directors from across the Miami-Dade school district gathered at the Lois Pope Life Center in Miami Thursday to learn the proper ways to treat concussions. “It’s really important to get the word out to the families so they understand,” said Marc Buoniconti of the Miami Life Project to Cure Paralysis, “and being involved today with all these athletic directors, it really helps a great deal because know we can understand the short term and long term impacts of concussions.”
Goldstein got to work after suffering his concussion and has helped raise over $8,000 at Ransom Everglades to help fund testing for student athletes all over Miami-Dade County. “You have this super vision of concussions in the NFL and in pro sports, in collage sports. You don’t see that at the high school level where most of the concussions in this country occur, so it seems logical to me to do what I can to help the kids,” said Goldstein.
Daniel Cuadra is the Athletic Director at Ronald Reagan Senior High in Doral. He said he has seen the consequences a concussion can have on a student athlete. “I have definitely seen, especially during kick off, some athletes get hit pretty hard, and I’m looking at them and, wow, they can’t even return to play, and I send them to a neurologist,” said Cuadra.
Goldstein’s work is far from over. “I’ve been working on the concussion legislation that will be going through Florida congress later this year. People in Tallahassee are supporting me, my friends, my school. It’s all good,” he said.
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Source : WSVN