Burlingame’s new athletic trainer, Sarah Hewett, has quite the resume. Not only has she worked at various high schools, Hewett brings experience treating factory workers full-time at Tesla and caring for referees in the National Basketball Association (NBA) to her new role.
While at Burlingame, Hewett will continue to work for the NBA, a position she has held for the past 5 years.
“I work with the referees and do their medical care,” Hewett said. “I track them throughout the nation and I keep them safe. I don’t want to travel with the teams because I have another job. But when there’s home games and I’m available, I go.”
Hewett emphasizes that a key part of being an athletic trainer is educating athletes about their injuries and teaching them how to protect them from further damage.
“Some athletic trainers, legislate tape, ice and kick the athletes out,” Hewett said. “I like to educate people so they know what’s going on because I’m not with the athletes 24/7. If someone’s hurt, and they don’t know what’s going on, and they push through, it might make the injury worse.”
Hewett graduated from Oregon State University in 2016 with a masters degree in athletic training.
“I took classes like, anatomy, muscles, diagnosis and imaging due to the emergency care. We never know what we’re gonna get,” Hewett said. “I can have a bloody nose or I could have someone’s neck snapped in half — hopefully not the other one here.”
Hewett goes above and beyond as an athletic trainer because she didn’t have a support network in high school, and now hopes to fill that void for students.
“I had a really hard time in high school, and I didn’t have someone there for me. So being here for people, is getting to support others. If someone has issues, whether mental or physical, just being there and giving people someone to look up to [helps], someone to go to when they need help,” Hewett said.
In addition to the athletes, Hewett is also available for all students throughout the day, such as injuries sustained during P.E.
“If someone gets hurt during the day, I can help them at school. I’m here to help everyone. Ideally, I’m focusing more on the athletes just because there’s a lot of them, but if students get hurt in P.E. — I even had one kid get hurt in art class, there’s always something — so I’m here if someone’s hurting,” Hewett said.
Burlingame has become a safe and comfortable environment for Hewett throughout her first three weeks, and she looks forward to building more connections with students and staff.
“There’s always goods and bads to jobs and people, but overall everyone’s been awesome and really supportive, and that’s helpful when there are issues,” Hewett said.
Hewett holds her position with high regard and continues to be there for others at all times.
“My job here at the high school is keeping everyone healthy. Figuring out little injuries versus big injuries, what you’ve been through, shouldn’t go through. And then if it’s really, really bad, just keeping the scene safe, calm and calling an ambulance or whatever’s needed,” Hewett said.
