Bettis, Dick's Push Concussion Tests For School Athletes

ROBINSON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Former Steelers running back Jerome Bettis is getting involved with a national program that was started in Pittsburgh to help prepare student-athletes for their upcoming season.

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Channel 4 Action News' Michelle Wright reported that 47 percent -- nearly half -- of all high school athletes suffer a concussion each year. Thirty-five percent of athletes say they suffer more than one.

"I was one of those players," Bettis said Tuesday, during an event at Dick's Sporting Goods.

Dick's will donate up to $1 million for baseline concussion screening that can help diagnose the injury better. It has teamed with another local company called ImPACT to offer the same testing that's given to professional athletes.
The program is called PACE, short for Protecting Athletes through Concussion Education.

PACE Program In Pittsburgh Expands Baseline Concussion Screening

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It's like a memory game. Scores taken before an injury will be compared with scores after an injury, to determine the severity and the necessary treatment.
Jared Barton, 16, took part in the testing program on Tuesday. He hopes that what he's doing now will help him when he plays center for Canon-McMillan High School this fall.

Several high schools and middle schools in the Pittsburgh area were already giving these tests to their students. The first 3,300 new schools to apply will qualify for the testing program.

Statistics show that between 1.5 million and 3 million people will experience a concussion from sports or recreational activities this year.
"I'm doing good," Bettis said. "I mean, not bad, but obviously it's only five years out (since retirement)..."

"But do you think about it a lot?" Wright asked.

"You know, I hadn't thought about it until the issue really came up," Bettis said. "And once I learned about concussions, and learned about what actually was a concussion, then I started to look at my career and say, 'Whoa, I had quite a few of those moments.' "

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