Timely response to student head injury will be at the heart of a policy in development by the Natrona County School District.  A summit on the subject happened Tuesday.

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Parents, doctors, community members and educators all took part in a ' Student Head-Injury Summit'  this week as input was gathered on a developing document.

Crystal Mueller, for Natrona County School District says the goal is to develop protocols and create partnerships ready to respond in the event of head injury and concussion.

"There were suggestions or action plans created from the summit. Education is a big part of this; making sure we have the right steps if a student hits their head or has signs of concussion."

Historically, response to head injury has sometimes been downplayed, but growing awareness of the impacts of brain injury is turning that around. A piece of proposed Wyoming legislation would call for development of protocols.

"Mueller says some school athletic directors are already using various resources for assessing accidents and injuries. She says another part of what they need to do is raise money,  because assessments can be  costly.

"It costs about 350 dollars for 500 assessments. So we need to raise funds, because we have, in the high risk sports area, about 1600 kids and we need that baseline in case they do have some kind of head injury so we can assess it."

Mueller says the summit participants all agree its important and, she says, the input they received validates the work already being done. Implementing protocols means training for coaches, trainers and educators on the front lines where student head injury happens.

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