The allure of the sandy beaches in her native Cape May County was always on her mind. So, when the opportunity arose to work closer to home after nine years of long commutes, campus apartment living and time away from her husband, Melissa Brault did not hesitate. On June 5, Atlantic Cape Community College welcomed the Cape May Court House resident as its new Athletic Trainer and Assistant Athletic Director.
For the past nine years Brault served as the Athletic Trainer for the Perkiomen School, a private boarding school located in Pennsburg, PA. She was hired straight out of graduate school in 2014 after earning her Master’s Degree in Exercise and Sports Physiology with a concentration in Athletic Training from West Chester University. Brault also earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Athletic Training from Montclair State University in 2012.
“When I saw this (Atlantic Cape athletic trainer) job was posted I thought that it would be a good opportunity to grow the athletic training portion of the program and provide care for our student athletes,” Brault said from her office in Jonathan Pitney Hall Gymnasium.
Despite knowing that she would finally be able to work much closer to home, for Brault, leaving the Perkiomen School after nine years was bittersweet.
“It was a difficult decision to make because I was comfortable there. I loved the kids. I loved the faculty because boarding school life is like one big family,” Brault said. “But I’ve been married for five years and the entire time I’ve been away at Perkiomen my husband and I have been together, but doing so long distance.”
Once the initial sadness of departing Perkiomen abated her excitement at joining Atlantic Cape was impossible to contain.
“I’m a beach kid at heart, so I knew I wanted to be back home in Cape May County and had been looking for the better half of five or so years just to get home.”
Growing up in Cape May Court House, Brault swam competitively for 10 years, including during her four years at Middle Township High School where she graduated from in 2008. She also enjoyed playing lacrosse and field hockey too. Her love for sports convinced her that a typical desk job would not be the ideal career for her.
“When I went to college I decided that I did not want to have a desk job. I like being active and I thought that my love for sports could translate well into helping people by being an athletic trainer,” Brault said. “Plus, I am fascinated with the medical field, so it’s kind of nice to wrap that all up into one job.”
Brault considers her opportunity here at Atlantic Cape one where she has the ability to help the athletics department grow.
“It will be nice to be able to kind of create how I want things to flow and allow our student athletes to realize that I am here to help them. If they have an ailment they can come talk to me or if they have a bad day they can still come talk to me.”
Upon her arrival on campus, Brault wanted to implement two technology programs that will help the athletics department keep track of and secure student athletes’ medical record documentation, and help them maintain a high level of performance and properly diagnose possible concussion symptoms.
The first is the Healthy Roster emergency medical record keeping program. Along with securing sensitive medical records, the program will also keep track of an athlete’s mental health through direct checks that may be submitted by the athlete to the athletic trainer virtually or in person.
“I can send reports to our athletes’ physicians, or if I have an orthopedic that I am talking to about a specific injury, I will be able to pull all of the treatment details that we’ve been working on and share them with doctors,” Brault said. “It is also important to cultivate open relationships with each athlete to make them feel comfortable and safe if they need someone to talk to.”
The second is Sway, which is a concussion testing software program that works with an accelerometer in the student athletes’ cell phone or iPad and will measure their balance, cognition, function, symptom and assessment surveys to determine return-to-play timelines. This will alleviate the trainer having to conduct baseline tests for each athlete at a desktop computer that may take up to 20 minutes to perform.
“We can use an individual symptom tracking screen where we can see how they’re healing, we can utilize their balance scores for not only concussion, but lower extremity injuries, to make sure they’re ready and to go back out on the field,” Brault said.
Ensuring that possible concussions are diagnosed properly is critical towards also preventing mental health issues. Each concussion is different from the other and the Sway system will allow Brault to take student athlete individual baseline scores and compare them to their current condition.
“So, this system is going to allow us to better provide for the student athlete moving forward after an injury.”
As the Athletic Trainer, Brault has the authority to use her discretion in deciding when an injured player should come out of a game and when they may return. If a player is diagnosed with a concussion Brault may then refer the student athlete to a medical doctor.
“I really want to provide top notch medical care for our student athletes. So as much as my job is treating injuries, it’s also trying to prevent injuries.”
With the start of the fall semester, Brault is excited to interact with the Buccaneer student athletes.
“I’m excited to get back out onto a field or court and watch the athletes do what they love. Being able to get outside and really get back to my comfort zone of athletic training and knowing that I have the skills to help athletes if they’re injured.”
And a short ride home to Cape May Court House at the end of each day makes the job all the more exciting as well.
Learn more about Atlantic Cape athletics at atlanticcape.edu/athletics.
