WILL KARR
Editor in Chief
It was about 15 minutes to 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 21 when Fredonia Men’s Blackhorse Rugby player Jason Winston fell on the field during a practice while diving for the ball, resulting in an eye injury. Winston and another player were simultaneously diving for the ball.
“I think someone sent a kick as I was running down for the ball. That is when I caught a knee to the eye,” Winston said.
After realizing that Winston wasn’t able to stand up and roll back over on his own, Maxwell Hamilton, Blackhorse Rugby President was galvanized into action. He said that he grabbed his first-aid kit from his backpack, as Winston was “fighting for consciousness” on the turf. Michael DeBitetto, another teammate, ran to his car to grab his first-aid kit.
“I gave him 10 to 20 seconds to get up on his own and to tell me he was fine. But after that moment and after counting enough time to go by, I knew there was something wrong,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton, who is certified in first aid, CPR and AED instruction through the American Red Cross, started performing first aid and called the University Police Department at 9:19 p.m., according to the UPD incident report The Leader obtained.
“I have been trained … to introduce [myself] to 911 or whoever [I am] calling and first tell them all the certifications [I] have so they have an understanding,” Hamilton said. “… I told them my name and certifications. They said they were going to send someone over to us and call for an ambulance. Then, they hung up the phone.”
Before Hamilton called UPD and while Hamilton was on the phone with UPD, teammates Ian Dague and Isiah Goodrich ran in opposite directions to one of the certified athletic trainers’ offices on campus at the bottom of Steele Hall for emergency assistance.
When Dague and Goodrich headed for the trainer’s office, they were not aware UPD was on the way as a result of Hamilton’s phone call. Dague dashed up the Natatorium entrance and down the stairs to the athletic trainers’ offices near the Steele Hall Ice Rink. Dague and Goodrich saw that the lights in the office were still on. Dague walked into the trainer’s office while Goodrich stood right outside of the open door.
“When I walked in, the trainer was just sitting at their desk scrolling on [their] computer,” Dague said. “I told her [that] one of our buddies hit his head on the turf and that he was bleeding out pretty badly.”
Dague said that he then asked her if there was any way that she could come out to help them and at least take a look at Winston.
According to Dague, the trainer first responded with one single question before doing anything else: “Are you a club or NCAA sport?”
After telling the trainer they were club athletes, Dague said that the trainer immediately said, “‘I can’t help you because you are a club sport and not an NCAA sport, we’re not allowed to touch anyone who is not under NCAA’ …. I’m not sure what specific policy she was exactly pulling from or if there even actually is one, she just said they were told not to.”
From outside the door, Goodrich said and added that he heard the trainer say that they couldn’t help because it was allegedly “outside of [their] jurisdiction” to do so.
“There is a sign on the athletic trainer’s door that says the office is open to athletes, but I guess we [as club athletes] are not included [in that definition],” Goodrich said.
Dague said the trainer handed them gauze and a band-aid, and they promptly left her office. They headed back to the athletics turf as one of the UPD officers was pulling up to the scene. An ambulance arrived on the scene.
Officer Dustin Chesbro arrived on location at 9:20 p.m., according to the police report. Another officer, Officer Ian Hodkin, came minutes later at 9:24 p.m. with an ambulance from Fredonia Fire and Rescue (FFR).
Winston left the field via ambulance on a stretcher and was transported to Brooks Memorial Hospital for further evaluation. All police units cleared out from the scene at 9:32 p.m., 13 minutes after Hamilton made the initial call to UPD at 9:19 p.m. The team had the field reserved for practice until 9:30 p.m.
“The police were very quick to respond,” Dague said. “… The police and the ambulance were in and out in about 10 minutes.”
Goodrich said that he would like to thank University Police and the Fredonia Fire Department for their quick, speedy and proactive response to the injury.
At Brooks, doctors gave Winston medicine, stitches and x-rays. Doctors found that he had a fracture at the bottom of his eye, which caused him to temporarily experience double vision.
He was later transferred to Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo and was discharged the following morning. Doctors have told Winston to take it easy and he now routinely sees a local eye doctor. Winston now serves as the team’s event coordinator while he is recovering.