Name: Samantha Caruso, MS, ATC
Nickname: Sam
Alma Mater: Stony Brook University
What's your current gig: Currently transitioning from the collegiate setting to working under an orthopedic in a physician's office.
Most Important Thing in Your Bag: Stretch Tape
What is the Weirdest / Wildest / Most Interesting / Out there AT job you've ever worked: NYC Health and Hospital at step down clinic during COVID-19 pandemic. I worked with healthcare professionals from all over the country, and worked with a patient population I would have never been exposed to in traditional settings. I got to prove ATs have a place at the table during times of crisis, and are valuable medical professional outside of the athletic realm.
Share your best Moment / Story / Anecdote as an AT: I worked my first few summers as an AT with Varsity Spirit. I was at a cheer camp in Oregon and met a top girl that had bruises all over her legs from where her teammates were catching her, which isn't usually common, and they were all beginning to calcify. We held her from participating the rest of camp, and recommended to her mother and coaches that she see her PCP. Two months later I was forwarded an email from her mother saying she was diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma just weeks after camp had ended. She thanked us for not overlooking what seemed like a "simple injury" and encouraging them to seek further care. As a young professional it taught me to always trust my gut when something doesn't feel quite right, even if you can't diagnose something in the moment.
Quote/Lyric/Line that sums up Athletic Training For You: I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it" -Thomas Jefferson
What does your day to day look like?
A "day in the life" depends on the season. During basketball I'm at the school by 5am for morning practice, and during the lacrosse season I'm at the school in the afternoon for night practice. Eating, sleeping and working out happens whenever it can be fit in to the day. But I'm most looking forward to a consistent and reliable daily schedule in my new setting.
What has been the biggest change in the year of the pandemic?
Managing the added anxiety and stress of my student athletes and coaches as well as my own with the constantly changing environment, while still doing my regular daily job requirements.
When you're not on a sideline, where can we find you?
At the beach or somewhere with a margarita in my hand!
Need an athletic trainer? Go4Ellis is a nationwide app/platform that connects teams and organizations with per diem athletic trainers for games, practices, camps, clinics and tournaments.
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Go4Ellis is the preferred per diem platform of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association.
Every sideline. Everywhere.
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