Pulaski Memorial Hospital will provide athletic training services to Eastern Pulaski Schools, in exchange for advertising opportunities at school athletic events. Under an agreement conditionally approved by the school board Monday, hospital employee Destiny Crawford will serve as the school corporation’s athletic trainer for the 2018-2019 school year.
In return, the hospital will get “exclusive healthcare marketing opportunities.” “Obviously, any athletic programs, they want some kind of advertisement in there,” Superintendent Dan Foster explained. “They’d like to maybe see a banner on the fence at the football field and then maybe bring it inside during the basketball season, that kind of stuff.”
Superintendent Dan Foster said the school and hospital would likely share the cost of making the banners. But he said the deal would not grant the hospital official naming rights of the schools’ athletic facilities. The agreement also calls for the hospital to get four annual passes to all athletic events.
Additionally, Foster said the school corporation has specified that the athletic trainer may not automatically refer students to Pulaski Memorial Hospital or its physicians. “If an injury happens in track with somebody’s ankle and they want to go see their doctor in Rochester, then that’s where the order will be written for it,” Foster said. He added that Pulaski Memorial Hospital has provided athletic training services in the past, but that arrangement hasn’t been in place for several years.
The Eastern Pulaski School Board approved the agreement Monday, as long as it meets the approval of school corporation attorney Tim Murray. Going forward, Foster said the plan is to revisit the agreement each year.
