Level Up Your ATC Career
Discover how athletic trainers are building rewarding careers supporting the Army's H2F program
About This Webinar
Join Planned Systems International (PSI) for a free webinar exploring career opportunities for athletic trainers in the Army's Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) program. Learn about H2F roles — how to apply, what to expect, and how to grow your career while making a real impact on service member health, performance, and readiness.
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What You'll Learn
- Athletic training career paths in the H2F program
- H2F program overview and the role of ATCs
- Application process and qualifications
- Benefits, compensation, and growth opportunities
- Q&A with the Cognito Systems team
Your Host
Full Transcript
The following is an auto-generated transcript of the webinar recording, organized by topic.
1Welcome & Introductions
Welcome and thank you for joining today's webinar. Today's meeting is automatically recorded. Your attendance is consent to the recording. My name is Kathy-Lynn Pacheco. I serve as a senior recruiter on our team and I will be facilitating today's webinar. Please hold your questions until the end when we will have a Q&A session with our presenters. Please take a minute to complete today's poll. It will be coming up on your screen. And let us know what your current role is as it relates to athletic training. Looks like we have a good mix here and this is a multiple answer question. So, all that apply. We have a lot of certified athletic trainers on the call. We have a number of Cognita or PSI associates. Great and some student athletic trainers. And also a good mix of external contacts wanting to learn more. Thank you so much for being here today everyone. Give that another minute. To let anybody answer if they haven't had a chance to answer yet. All right. Our lead presenter today is Dr. Rosie Catanoso. As our team's director of human performance operations, Dr. Catanoso oversees the day-to-day operations of both the Army's H2F and the Marine's SMIP program work on our team. She is also very willing to connect with anyone to share the value of ATs to support our H2F program. And Dr. Catinoso's contact information will be at the end of the presentation here, so you're welcome to reach out to her via email. Our next presenters today include Cass Corcy. She serves as a lead athletic trainer at Joint Base Base, excuse me, Lewis-McChord or JBLM JBLM in Pierce County, Washington. Cass has worked on this government contract as a civilian employee for over 2 years, and she truly enjoys all of her interactions day-to-day with what she does with the ATs on our team, particularly supporting patient care, soldier education, and other administrative tasks. Megan Padaray is our other co-presenter today. She recently joined PSI as a full-time athletic training recruiter, and prior to working in this role, Megan spent 6 years as a lead athletic trainer on the H2F program. She is actively recruiting ATs into all of our open roles across the United States, and Megan as well is willing to share her experience with any prospective candidate. Thank you, Dr. Catinoso and Cass and Megan for leading today's presentation. I will hand it over to you, Dr. Catinoso.
2What Is H2F?
Perfect. Thank you, Kathy-Lynn. Um, hi everybody. Like Kathy-Lynn mentioned, my name is Dr. Rosie Catinoso, and I serve as the director of human performance operations. Uh, I'm also a physical therapist, and I've had the privilege of working on the H2F program at Fort Bragg. Uh, so I'm really excited to be here and get the opportunity to share all of the great things that H2F has to offer, as well as give a deep dive into what the athletic training position entails. So, first thing we'll talk about is what is the actual concept of H2F. So, H2F really stems from the Army's intent to shift the military health care model from one that was traditionally reactive, where we would really just wait around for soldiers to get hurt before we would intervene in any way, to a much more proactive approach. The mindset stems from professional sports. You know, we surround athletes with teams of health care providers and human performance experts so that they can be the best in the soccer arena or on the football field. Why not take that same concept and apply it to our soldiers so that they can be the best in the tactical space. The program started back in 2018 as a pilot where they had a few select units that were provided H2F resources to see if this program had any legs, if it, you know, was going to be successful. So, not only did providing H2F resources to those units decrease injury rates, but it also increased fitness scores and increased overall unit readiness and deployability. So, the Army saw the H2F concept as a win and decided to green light it in its full capacity, which is where we are today. So, next I'll talk about what actually makes up the H2F team and the different domains that it consists of.
3The Five Domains of Soldier Readiness
So, the idea behind H2F is that there are five domains in a soldier's life and if a soldier addresses each one of those equally, that's what will promote optimal health and wellness. First domain we're going to talk about is the physical readiness domain. And this is where athletic trainers will fall. Physical readiness can really be looked at in two different categories. So, on one hand, it's going to be the physical training of our soldiers. So, that's how they exercise and stay active. That is the primary responsibility of the strength and conditioning coaches, and it's their job to develop and implement periodized workout programs so that our soldiers are training effectively and training efficiently. The other side of physical readiness is the injury prevention and injury response team, and that's where our athletic trainers, our physical therapists, and our physical therapy specialists are focused. Their primary role is to respond to musculoskeletal injuries as soon as they happen so that we can initiate the recovery process day one rather than having to wait 3 to 4 weeks for that individual to get into the traditional clinics on post. Uh they're also responsible for injury prevention initiatives. So, the goal of H2F really is to be proactive and get on the front side of our soldiers' injuries. So, with that, the ATs, the PTs, and the physical therapy specialists will create a variety of different educational opportunities so that our soldiers have a better understanding of how to care for themselves, which should help decrease injuries in the long run. Next, we'll talk about the mental readiness and the sleep readiness domain. Uh so, mental readiness is all about training our brains in the same way we train our bodies. Uh so, we work out to be physically fit. Let's train our brains to be mentally fit. Mental readiness includes things like mental toughness. So, how do we build up our soldiers' abilities to push through and do hard things? Um we want them to obviously be able to physically conquer a task, um but we need them to be able to mentally do that, too. It also includes things like mental resiliency. So, how do we make sure our soldiers are prepared to get back on the horse uh if and when they say uh face a setback. Uh and then it also covers things like stress management techniques, uh instilling healthy coping mechanisms in our soldiers so that they're able to handle um all of the ins and outs that that come with being a soldier. Uh going hand-in-hand with mental readiness, we also have the sleep readiness domain. And sleep readiness is all about making sure our soldiers get enough sleep and they get quality sleep. Uh the big emphasis with sleep readiness is to educate leadership on the importance of sleep, uh that it is something that we all need in order to perform at our best, and it's something that we should be prioritizing in our training programs. Sleep readiness will also work with the soldiers one-on-one or in group formats to educate them on different ways they can optimize the quality and quantity of their sleep. Mental readiness and sleep readiness will be covered by occupational therapists, occupational therapy specialists, and cognitive performance specialists. Next up, we have nutritional readiness, and the saying I like to use for nutritional readiness is, if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for life. So, the goal of nutritional readiness is to educate and empower our soldiers to make smart choices about how they fuel their bodies. It's to give them the tools that they need, so when they're in the dining facility, they can make a well-balanced meal that's going to fuel them for all of their activities that they'll be doing throughout that work day. Nutritional readiness has the opportunity to work on three different levels. So, the dieticians can work one-on-one with soldiers to help them meet whatever their nutritional goals might be. They can do body composition assessments. They can order labs to determine if there's any nutritional deficiencies. They can develop meal plans, and really tailor their services to the specifics of that patient. Second, they'll work at the unit level, and this is where they do a lot of the education, you know, presenting to groups so that they're providing that evidence-based information, and our soldiers are getting good quality info on, you know, what they should be focusing on from a nutrition standpoint. And then third, they'll also work at the installation level to increase access to healthy foods. So, that might be working with the dining facilities to make sure that healthy food foods are available at each meal time, that foods are labeled appropriately. We've even had some teams that have worked with vending machine companies on post to make sure that healthy options are available wherever the soldiers might be, so it shouldn't be a hard choice for them to make. And then last but not least, we have the spiritual readiness domain. And spiritual readiness develops the connection that gives meaning and purpose to one's life. It's to help soldiers build out core values, beliefs, and identities that are unique to the soldiers but common to all. It really provides resiliency in times of stress, hardship, and tragedy. [clears throat Spiritual readiness will be primarily spearheaded by the chaplains which are military religious figures. So, all of the providers that you see listed here make up the H2F team and those are individuals that you would be working alongside of if you were to come on board as part of the H2F program. Now,
4What Athletic Trainers Do in H2F
one of the questions we always get is, you know, what does an athletic trainer do within the H2F program? So, there are three primary roles that are ATs really focus on within their respective H2F team. First is the athletic trainers will provide athletic training coverage to army training events. So, this is going to be more of that traditional AT experience that you would see on the sidelines of practices or games. The only difference is that our ATs are on the sidelines of different army events. So, that could be anything from a physical fitness test, a run, an obstacle course, to even you know, a flag football game that they might be doing for the holidays as a a team building activity. ATs are on the sidelines and able to respond to injuries if and when they happen as well as support other medical personnel who may be at those events as well. This first picture that you see here on the left, this is actually Megan. She had the opportunity to observe a field training exercise and ride in a Humvee. So, really cool unique opportunities to witness you know, different army trainings as part of the athletic training role. Second primary responsibility is to evaluate and treat a variety of musculoskeletal injuries. So, our athletic trainers are typically the first person that a soldier is seeing for their musculoskeletal complaint. They're performing initial evaluation, determining diagnosis, developing a plan of care, and then taking that soldier through the course of their recovery. So, it is a direct access environment, and our ATs do have a lot of clinical autonomy to evaluate and treat patients as they see fit. Now, they're not alone on an island. They do have support from other medical providers. They'll work closely with their physical therapists, with their unit primary care providers, but they're going to be the the main person that is addressing acute musculoskeletal injuries within the unit. And then third, our athletic trainers provide injury prevention education, classes, screenings. Again, trying to shift that proactive approach to health care. Our ATs work with their soldiers to identify anybody who might be at an increased risk of injury and work with them before the injuries happen, as well as share knowledge on how to better care for yourselves. The second picture that you see here, this is from Cass. She was out there leading a morning mobility PT session. So, making sure that our soldiers have a good understanding of appropriate warm-up, cool-down, and mobility techniques so they can train appropriately. Overall, the athletic trainers are focused on optimizing soldier performance within their army unit. Each army unit might do that a little bit differently, but overall, that's going to be the primary focus and goal of our athletic trainers working within H2F. Now, I'm going to hand it over to Cass, and she's going to walk you through what
5A Day in the Life of an H2F Athletic Trainer
a typical day in the life of an H2F athletic trainer looks like. Thank you, Dr. Cantanosa. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm going to give you a little bit of insight on what a typical day like at my brigade is like. We will report at 6:00 a.m. And on the first and last day of the week, our injury control team will huddle prior to heading out for physical training, which I'll refer to as PT moving forward. We'll use this time to set the tone for the week, and on Friday, I'll give updates to the team from our pillar leads meeting that is held every Thursday. And we'll also recap any expiring profiles with our injury control director. Profiles are basically like our injury report. It tells leadership what our soldiers can and cannot do when they're injured. From there, we'll head out to cover our morning PT sessions. Each athletic trainer is responsible for a battalion within our brigade, and this is just like covering our practice or our lift sessions in a more traditional setting. We'll triage injuries that occur during that time. We'll provide modifications. We also cover a profile PT session, so those soldiers that are on profiles, that is a program that we have running that we've developed with our strength and conditioning coaches that allows them to continue training while they're working through their injury before they return to their battalions. After PT, we hold a musculoskeletal walk-in clinic. This is where we'll like further triage and evaluate injuries. Each service member will receive a follow-up appointment for either physical therapy or further evaluation. They will receive a home exercise plan during that time and treatment. If profiling is appropriate, we have the ability to put those profiles in as Once our walk-in clinic is over, we transition into our other roles and responsibilities, including our patient care, field coverage, and meetings, as Dr. Cantanosa had mentioned before. We do work really closely with our physical therapist, occupational therapist, and our other pillars to treat the whole person, and I think that's one of the most unique things about our program is that we just don't see the body for what it is. We're constantly working with our other pillars to make sure that that whole soldier is being treated. In addition to individual patient care, our team also provides aquatic therapy two times a week. We team up with our strength and conditioning coaches to host movement and running classes weekly. And recently, we've supported our brigade-wide combatives competition. So, that was like OG athletic training right there, which is awesome. As the day comes to an end, we'll wrap up our administrative work and prepare for the next day. And that's pretty much what our day-to-day's like. It changes a little bit here and there based on brigade needs, but for the most part, it's pretty standard. I'm going to hand things off to Megan uh so that you guys can learn a little bit more about the requirements of being an H2F athletic trainer. Thanks, Cass. Again, I'm Megan. I'm going to talk a little bit about those requirements. So, for both staff athletic trainers and the lead athletic trainer positions, um we require the bachelor's degree or higher in athletic training. We also require the BOC certification, BLS, and then an active and unrestricted athletic training license. Um a little bit of a difference between the staff athletic trainer role and the lead athletic trainer role, for staff, we require 2 years of post-BOC experience. Um for the lead athletic trainer, we require 5 years post-BOC, um and then we also require a master's degree. Both of these roles um require US citizenship for employment and ability to pass a background check. And then the usual physical requirements that you'll see for athletic training positions, um being able to navigate austere environments outside, um and carrying supplies up to about 45 lb. So, kind of the typical stuff we would see for uh athletic training jobs. So, you might be wondering, well, how can I get involved? How can I kind of
6How to Transition Into H2F
navigate towards H2F? So, um if you're a student an uh an athletic training student, certain sports and covering those sports might mimic what you might see at an Army unit. So, track and field, there's so many different events, right? There's the running events, the jumping events, the field events. And so, getting a lot of experience in those different types of events are going to mimic what you're going to find at an Army unit. Because at the unit, we might have medics, we might have truck drivers, we might have mechanics. And so, you're seeing all different kinds of injuries with a track and field, a wrestling, a football type of rotation. So, I recommend getting into any of those if you're thinking about moving towards H2F in the future. Um this also helps with exposure to different treatment methods, right? A runner might need something different than a thrower, might need something different than a jumper. And so, um just really navigating those different treatment approaches um to help give you a well-rounded kind of backgrounds. Another option, which would be really great, is to work with your local ROTC programs, whether at the university that you're at or other local universities, um to really get experience with that tactical population. If you're a current athletic trainer and you're wanting to get involved in H2F, um lots of different options. Like we talked about with students, just varied um work experience. Connecting with current tactical ATs, um and then expanding knowledge through CEUs. So, whether that's at NATA, whether that's um you know, learning McKenzie method or Graston, or um we do a lot with the soldiers of of like Cass mentioned, running mechanics, gait analysis, um biomechanics. We talk a lot about footwear. Um so, just familiarizing yourself with all of those different areas, even pregnancy and postpartum education is something that we do touch on with the soldiers. Um so, it's it's great to just learn in all those different areas to set yourself up for success coming over to H2F. And then as an educator or an alumni of a program, we can absolutely, you know, come over to your to your school, to your career fair. Um we can talk over Zoom. We can talk individually or to groups. Um, and then, you know, share these positions with your alumni and just spread the news um, because we we have lots to we have lots to talk about, lots of positions that we're looking um, to fill. And so, if if that's, you know, something that maybe you know some people, send it on over and and share the wealth.
7Benefits of Working in H2F
I'm going to roll into benefits of joining our team. So, some of those being literal benefits, some of those being, you know, just the awesomeness of Like Cass mentioned, we have a 40-hour workweek. So, it's 40 hours and or 80 hours over 2 weeks. So, averaging 40 hours per week. Um, which for me was a stark difference coming over from college and high school athletics to Army H2F. Um, some days when I was done at, you know, 2, 3, 4 o'clock, I I didn't know what to do. I had to pick up a couple hobbies, which was great. Um, and then being home on the weekends and evenings with my family was was um, was really awesome and one of my favorite parts honestly of you know, the shift over to to Army H2F. Um, another one of my favorite things is just being able to work with soldiers and having that meaningful impact. Uh, some of these some of the soldiers and and leadership that I talked with, especially if they've been in for 15, 17, 18 years, they were always like, "Wow, I wish we had a program like this when I was a young soldier because I wouldn't have nearly as many aches and pains as I do now." So, that was just really great to hear. I would do such to me such basic things for them and they had such a huge benefit from it. So, just by us being there and teaching them even a little bit, they they really got a lot out of. So, that was super awesome. Um, and then you just get to apply your expertise however you see fit. We have a lot of autonomy. Now, like Rosie said, we're not on an island, but you have a lot of autonomy to be able to, you know, do what you see fit and and try those things with your soldiers and so that's great to be able to you know, bounce ideas off when you want to and kind of take it in your own direction when you want to as Um the big one, paid time off. We are able to earn it and use it. So it's not like, oh, I have all this PTO but I can't use it. It's it's great to be able to plan out vacations. You have, you know, in some situations up to 3 weeks per year to be able to use as you see fit and and that was really again important for me of having that work-life balance. [snorts Another big benefit is professional development. So ATs are reimbursed for your BOC, your state license, your BLS, your membership for NATA. We provide MedBridge accounts with both the the CEU feature and the home exercise program feature. And then money towards CEUs and continuing ed. So that's a huge one because I know, you know, a lot of other times we don't get that and we kind of have to pay those out of pocket. So it's really great that that we can get reimbursed for those. We also have sign-on bonuses and relocation available to a lot of our locations. And then, you know, medical, dental, vision, of course. And company-sponsored 401k with immediate matching investing. So that's that's really great. And turning it back over to Rosie. Thanks, Megan. So on this slide, this is a map of where
8Current & Future AT Opportunities
we have our current and future H2F AT opportunities. Currently, we're located at 14 different Army installations across 10 different states and we will expand to 24 Army installations across 18 states this upcoming fall. The program will continue to grow with Army senior leaders. They actually recently announced that H2F performance teams will be resourced to every unit across the Army. Uh, the data really shows the benefit of the H2F program and the return on investment is there. Uh, we still continue to see those initial, um, goals that I mentioned at the beginning like decreased injury rates and improved fitness scores, but we're also seeing those secondary and tertiary benefits like improved quality of life scores in units that have H2F, decreased substance abuse, decreased suicide rates. So, the army truly recognizes how impactful H2F can be and, um, their H2F rollout plan is in support of that. Um, I also like to mention that, um, the army does recognize the significant value that the athletic trainers provide to the H2F program and our service members and they will continue to be a part of the H2F team makeup as these rollouts happen over the course of the next 5 years. Um, and like I said, this is just a map, um, so the states are highlighted and then we have some locations, um, that have multiple bases in a state, um, but if you don't see a place that you're specifically looking for, please feel free to reach out. We can always let you know if we have, um, any idea if there'll be locations coming up in the future, um, or, you know, keep you kind of on a waitlist, uh, for, you know, future opportunities if you do decide to relocate. All right, next we're going to hear from, uh, Greg, our director of talent acquisition. Um, I will be playing a minute long video. Uh, it was taken last month at the NATA conference in Philadelphia. Um, so if you were there, maybe you stopped by our booth. Um, but I want to let you know that there is a little bit of background noise. So, it may be a bit difficult to hear. I do recommend turning up your volume, uh, but we do have subtitles as well. So, I'll go ahead and play that. All right, so I'm going to pass it back to Kathleen, our moderator, as we wrap
9Q&A with the Team
up and transition to our questions and answers section of the presentation. Thank you so much, Dr. Catenoso, and Cass, and Megan for your insights and for sharing your individual perspective on the AT program that supports the H2F work that we are doing across the United States. Your the information you have shared with us is very, very insightful. At this point during the Q&A, all attendees now have the opportunity to share a question with our presenters. There is a raised hand function that you may see at the top menu bar, and you are also able to come off of mute. So, if anybody would like to raise their hand first, or just come directly off of mute, please let us know what question you might have. One question, um any one of our presenters, please feel free to answer. What is your favorite part about serving as a certified athletic trainer? All right, I'll add my piece for working with H2F and then I'll pass it to Megan and and cast out there's. But mine's mine's twofold. Number one is the impact you have on soldiers. Megan alluded to this earlier, but we really do make a significant difference in the soldiers life. Previously, you know, the way they approached musculoskeletal injuries were, you know, take ibuprofen and suck it up. So we had soldiers who were getting broken and just forced to deal with chronic injuries. Now with H2F they have a place where they can go and they can get the quality care that they need and that is so rewarding. You know, I've had patients say to me, this is the first time someone's listened or this is the first time that I feel like I can actually get better. And and as a clinician that just is a really really great thing to hear of like, wow, I'm doing something and it's significantly impactful. So that's my first one. And then the second piece is there's so much variety in this job. You get to kind of use your skill set in so many different ways. You know, you have your opportunity for patient care, you have your opportunity to teach and educate and present classes. You have the opportunity out in the field on the sidelines and kind of hands-on. So I feel like as a clinician you get to grow in a lot of ways that you may not have the opportunity to do so in a more traditional environment. So I liked that each day was different, each day had its own new challenges and it kept things fun and interesting and really tapped into that lifelong learner aspect of my professional growth. Megan Thank you Dr. Catenoso. Cast or Megan, what do you think? Yeah, to to echo that I also really loved the collaboration between the H2F team. I worked a ton with the dietitian specifically or the the coaches specifically. I worked a ton with cognitive performance and and just learning, you know, as Rosie said, lifelong learning, but learning different aspects from them that I can help apply maybe on a one-on-one conversation with a soldier and being able to, you know, learn some tidbits that they use usually say and and apply that while I'm doing treatment or things like that. And then also working with them from an educational standpoint, from a, you know, an academy standpoint. And if someone's training for something, being able to refer to those, "Hey, I know you're planning for this upcoming selection. Let me get you in with so and so, our cognitive performance specialist." And just being able to be that um person that's shuffling them in between to make sure that they're getting everything that they that they want or need to be able to best set up for success. Thank you, Megan. And I see you have your hand up, Justin. Um Cass, go ahead. Why don't you share your perspective real quick, and Justin, you'll be next. Sure. So, uh my background for the last 10 years before joining the contract was in college athletics. I worked everything from D3 to D1. And most recently, I was in at a D1 university. for me, the the echoing what Dr. Cantu also and Megan said, those are by far the best parts of this job, but also the work-life balance. For me, I was super burnt out by the time I took this job. I was looking for moving into a different career, actually. And uh this this role really saved athletic training for me. It was something that has given me uh a second push here. And all of the reasons why I went into the field of athletic training, I'm able to do here and make that difference. So, it's been uh yeah, it's been a a life-changing thing in a way as an athletic trainer. Um so, that's probably my most favorite part about this job. Well, we are so grateful, Cass, that you stayed on this career path and did not make a change. And the fact that you lead the team at JBLM, we are very grateful for you being a part of the Justin, please take yourself off of mute and let us know your question. Good morning. Good afternoon. Thank you for your time, and thanks for the presentation. It's actually very refreshing to hear such great things about athletic trainers. My question for you for the team is when it comes to opportunities, where do they lie? Um and how do you guys identify these opportunities to make things better? Sure. Um I'm going to ask a clarifying question just so I understand. Um when you say opportunities, are you talking about the AT positions and where those could be identified, or are you talking about like uh opportunities for ATs to make an impact within their unit? Just your your current standing to to the first point you made. Perfect. Um so all of our positions can be found on uh athletic trainer job.com, which is that QR code that you see on the screen right now, um as well as through our um social media uh links. So we're uh active on LinkedIn, and that's where we post most of our positions, but everything is all centrally located on that athletic trainer job.com QR code that you are more than welcome to scan. Um we have uh currently 180 positions, and we're adding 161 more this upcoming fall. So tons of opportunity across the country to get involved within H2F. Um and if anyone is interested in talking more about a specific opportunity that relates to, you know, what they're looking for, um you are more than welcome to email me. Um I'll make sure that my contact information is also put in the chat so that you have that. Um I'd be more than happy to discuss uh the details of your situation and uh to see if we have something that might be a good fit. Thank you. Thank you, Justin, and thank you, Dr. Catinella, so. If anyone else would like to come off of mute, another question that I'd like to ask, you talked earlier in the presentation Dr. Catenoso about multidisciplinary teams, the different areas of H2F altogether. Can you or Cass or Megan elaborate on some of the other adjacent teams that our certified athletic trainers work with if not every day, at least regularly? Yeah, of course. Um so you have your human performance team that's going to consist of the athletic trainers, physical therapists, occupational therapists, dieticians, and strength and conditioning coaches. Um but the H2F team will work extremely close with their unit's primary care provider. So each Army unit has um whether they're a physician, a PA, an NP, they have some medical provider that is responsible for the general medical care of all soldiers within the unit. So the ATs will work um very very closely with that individual uh day in and day out. That's who they'll reach out to if they need any sort of um referrals, any sort of imaging, um any sort of uh follow-up that's not appropriate for H2F care. Uh so that'll be a big stakeholder that that you'll work with. Uh second is going to be the medics within the unit. Uh so the medics um are Think of them like paramedics within the civilian world except they have a much broader scope. So they can do a lot of things in their role. Uh they do anything from administer flu shots to uh pack checking uh sucking chest wounds. Uh so they can do a lot um and the ATs have the unique opportunity to help build out the medic skill set when it comes to musculoskeletal education. Um you know, our AT positions are civilian roles, so they do not deploy with the units when they go overseas, uh but the medics will. So the ATs have the opportunity to educate the medics to expand their knowledge, build out their toolbox when it comes to managing musculoskeletal injuries. That way when the soldiers are deployed and they don't have access to ATs, the medics are better uh suited to handle some of those injuries that might come up. Um and then the other kind of big group of individuals that you'll work with is the clinics on base. So, you will be connected with the military treatment facilities and the providers that work within. So, that's going to be your traditional physical therapy, your specialists, neuro, cardio, ortho, the emergency room, emergency department if you ever have a patient who might need um you know, emergency services. So, you do have all of your um more typical civilian resources on site in addition to the military assets. Um Meg, or Cass, anything you'd like to add? Yeah, um I we're a uh soldier centered medical facility where I'm at and we have embedded mental health right down the hall from us. So, we do a lot of mental health triaging as well in our walking clinics and when we're doing evaluations and we have direct lines to embedded mental health, which has been awesome. It's not uncommon uh to walk someone down the hall, it'd be a battle buddy in that way for them uh the same way that we have access to that in the collegiate settings and I think that has been a huge asset uh to have to have that right next door to us. So, I think that's that's massive um in addition to the regular care team that we work with. Thank you so much Dr. Cauthen also and Cass, uh you know, just the emphasis on again a multi-disciplinary team that is available to learn from and communicate with and collaborate with and again is emphasizing an integrated holistic care team. Thank you so much for highlighting that. Aaron, please can you bring yourself off of mute and ask your question and Jason, you'll be next. Yep. Thank you guys for the presentation. It's been really awesome. Good afternoon, everyone. Uh I'm an AT student and I was just curious, given the fact that the H2F occupation is more of a civilian role, um does that mean that members who are like applying for this job are required to stay on base in terms of like living quarters, or do you guys usually like live in a nearby town and then kind of uh make the trip over to the base? Like, how does that look for you guys? Sure. Uh Megan, you came off mute. You want to take that one? Sure. Yeah, so um what's great is as the athletic trainer, you're just a regular regular civilian, um and you can just live nearby um and come on to base each day. You'll have regular base access um like any other government contractor. And so, it's cool because we can explore these different areas, explore these different towns. Um most recently, I was at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Before that, I was at JBLM, where Cass is at. And so, it's cool because you can live kind of anywhere and then come on to base for work. Um and so, you get to explore new areas, and then, you know, you get that little break from the military day uh and go back out to the regular world, and then just come on for work. And I'll just add to what Megan said. Um these positions are civilian positions. So, there are no military requirements of our team members. Um there's no uh shaving requirements, no uh style requirements outside of just following a professional dress code. Um and our ATs are able to uh function in a similar capacity you would at any other athletic training role. It's just that you're supporting the military team rather than a sports team. So, uh no additional military uh requirements that come with this position. Got it. Thank you. Thank you for the question, Aaron. Jason, please let us know your question. Thanks for being here today. Yeah, absolutely. And uh thank you for inviting me to this. This was definitely informative. Um but can you You touch a little bit on I am at Fort Drum, right? And I'm tired of the snow and I want to get out of there and you guys have a position open, let's say in Fort Irwin, California. Um, what does that look like? Is that an easy transition um, to jump from Fort Drum to Fort Irwin or is there a lot of jumping through hoops to get transferred over to there or get hired on over at Fort Irwin? Yeah, that's a great question, Jason. Um, so once you're part of the Cognito Systems team, uh, we really try and keep our staff happy. Uh, so if you've worked at Fort Drum and you've, you know, realized that maybe 2 ft of snow is not your jam every winter, uh, we have a prioritized transfer list that we utilize for our current staff. So if and when new positions become available, uh, we first offer them to our current staff so they have the ability to take advantage of new locations, um, you know, if they've always wanted to go to Hawaii, for example, uh, we want to make sure that our ATs who are already on the contract working with us, um, have that privilege to kind of get first dibs there. So we try and make transfers as seamless as possible. Uh, pretty much, you know, hey, let us know the dates, we'll confirm if we have a spot there and then we'll fill out the paperwork on the back end to make it happen. Um, we also have the SMIT program which is on the Marine Corps side so that, uh, benefit extends to our ATs that supports the Sports Medicine Injury Prevention Program. Uh, you know, we look at Cognito Systems as a big umbrella and both of our human performance teams that fall within it, uh, we want to allow our ATs the mobility to move among spaces if they see fit. Um, another thing I'll mention that's kind of in the same category is, um, we do have a lot of military spouses that work on the program, uh, and we do try and prioritize any transfers, um, that they might need because of PCSing. Uh, so we do factor that in, um, we really do want to retain our staff, um, and make sure that they have opportunities, um, if we have the space. So we will prioritize that. And Megan, uh, she's an example of going through that transfer process. So, if there's anything else you'd like to add, Megan, feel free. Sure. Like like Dr. Catnoso said, they've they worked really seamlessly for me when I was transferring from Fort Bliss to JBLM to Fort Polk to Fort Eustace. So, I've basically just been, you know, okay, it's time to move again. And then Dr. Catnoso says, all right, let's see what we got available. And then just shimmied me where where she could. So, so yeah, just echoing what she said. It's it's been great as an employee of the company to be able to do that so easily as a military spouse. Thank you so much for that perspective. And that was a really great question. When it comes to, I guess, maybe one last question unless anybody else would like to ask. What are some skills that you all would recommend for A-Ts to develop as they continue to grow in their careers, you know, especially if they're hoping to support military readiness and support the H2F program long-term? Yeah, of course, that's a great question. So, number one is going to be a team player. I think individuals who are used to working in a multidisciplinary team or with a bunch of other support staff do really well in this H2F environment because it is so collaborative. Our teams that have awesome team dynamics just succeed because they're able to work together and accomplish the mission. So, individuals who are are comfortable working alongside individuals with all different types of backgrounds and kind of hey, you know, we're all going to put in the work so that we can accomplish the goal. I think is is a huge a huge skill that lends well to success in this setting. The other piece that I'll say is lifelong learning. So, always being willing to kind of hit the books and say, "All right, I don't know how to, you know, pack a ruck, but I'm going to learn how to do it." Working in the military environment, there's going to be a lot of different situations that come up that you may not have been exposed to before in a more traditional role. So, being willing to say, "Okay, great, I don't know this, but I can figure it out." And continue to grow and learn as a professional also is is something that sets you up for success in this environment. Um, I'll toss it over to to Cass. I see she's off mute, so so she can add in. Yeah, from a like clinical perspective, it's been mentioned a few times about classes and education. Running and like gait analysis is a huge one that we do here. We do a ton of like wound care stuff as well, like especially after rocking blister care, that's another another big one being comfortable with that. Uh in addition to that, um, I think P3T the post post-partum and pregnancy pelvic floor, that's another one coming from like a really healthy active population that usually isn't pregnant was a big transition for me was getting comfortable with pregnant soldiers and then what post-partum looks like for them. And then just brushing up on a lot of like chronic and overuse things. That's we see a lot of that especially in specific MOS's like our mechanics. We get a lot of overuse for that. So, being comfortable with those things, I think would be a huge benefit uh for for this type of a role. Thank you so much for sharing that feedback, Dr. Catenazzo and Cass. Laura, are there any other questions? Well, Dr. Catenazzo, your email address is listed here. May I say or you like if you'd like to say everybody can reach out to you if they have any questions, is that correct? Yep, absolutely. Feel free to shoot me an email and we I'd be happy to set up a call. I'll also drop Megan's um, contact information in the chat, too. That way you can reach out to her. Um, and we really appreciate everyone taking the time out of their day to attend the webinar and look forward to opportunities to connect in the future.
10Closing Remarks
Thank you so much, everyone, for joining today's webinar. We hope that you found it to be insightful. We hope that you found it to be helpful and that QR code on your screen goes to athletic trainer job.com. Please visit that website when you have some time time and learn a little bit more about our current openings, which again, Dr. Catanoso emphasized, we have many opportunities immediately if you're considering a new step in your career. Have a wonderful afternoon and thank you so much for joining us.
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