AVON — Sports Medicine Concepts has been providing elite sports emergency care training for the most demanding medical teams in the country since 1995.
The company will expand its operations with the opening of its new Corporate Headquarters this April in Avon — and will be located in the East Avon Plaza.
Company Founder/CEO & Director of Operations Mike Cendoma said the new facility will allow his company to continue to provide the most advanced and comprehensive training services available by focusing on research and education.
The new facility will house 12 employees and will feature 20 yards of turf, an advanced mobile simulation lab with multiple hi-fi patient simulators, a mock trauma bay, dedicated debriefing room, large conference room, and a new Skull Sessions podcast studio. A purposely designed warehouse will improve material handling and the efficiency of shipping freight required to complete the on-site services the company provides.
A large full-service kitchen/catering area and dining facilities will add to the experience participants will enjoy during the many in-house educational programs the company has planned. And let us not forget the Team Room. Cendoma says the new HQ will provide a place for staff and visitors to bond by kicking back in leather recliners and sofas to watch the big game or use the gaming consoles to blow off steam after a long day of training.
“SMC has also expanded virtually,” Cendoma said. “SMC has invested heavily in infrastructure that will provide many on-demand education and training opportunities, including some that will use virtual reality.”
The idea, Cendoma says, is to discover new protocols, techniques, and policies that have the potential to improve outcomes for critically injured athletes. “We can then take that new information and develop education and training opportunities that allow medical teams to improve management of critical injuries throughout the entire continuum of care,” he added.
SMC’s new facility will allow the company to provide a different kind of education as well. Cendoma says he plans to offer outreach athletic training services to high schools in the region.
“Our service,” Cendoma says, “will teach administrators and community leaders what true athletic training services are.”
Cendoma believes the present outreach athletic training model places too much emphasis on referral and too little on traditional athletic training values.
“SMC has no referral interests,” Cendoma said. “We plan to teach school officials and community leaders the value of an athletic trainer by demonstrating just how valuable athletic trainers are when their role is taken seriously by the outreach service provider. We are going to take what we know and turn it into services that truly impact the safety of athletics in our community.”
Cendoma is excited for the April opening.
“Athletics offer great benefits to all who participate,” he said. “But there is a risk, too. Our job as sports health care professionals is to minimize that risk so participants walk away from athletics having reaped a lifetime of rewards with minimal risk to their immediate or future well-being. This is our way of helping make that happen.”
