The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

•T h e IF P • H alto n H ills, Thursday, January 2, 2014 15 15 MOUNTAINVIEW RD. N., GEORGETOWN 905-877-2296 www.georgetowntoyota.com $19,955$19,955 BUY IT FOR $140$140bi-weekly.Includes tax 2014Corolla2014Corolla plus hst BURCEP-BA 0DOWNPAYMENT Canadian Built Auto, Air, USB, Bluetooth, LED Lights Ends Jan. 3 SPORTS "Quote/unquote" 'They're the concussion gurus.'-- Jenni Veneruz... see story below As a former first-round draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers, whose promising National Hockey League career was cut short by injuries, the last thing local na- tive Adam Bennett needed was to have one of his daughters experience what he did. In fact, the concussion Kaitlyn sus- tained as a 13-year-old playing hockey was even worse than anything her dad suffered through. Now 15, she will likely never play the sport again and continues to suffer symptoms from the back-to-back blows to the head. After being accepted into George- town District High School's Inter- national Baccalaureate program for Grade 9, Kaitlyn had to withdraw from studies there and is now only able for an hour in the classroom each day, with the rest of her time spent in the library. She has been receiving treatment at InFocus Rehabilitation Centre on Guelph St. in Georgetown, which re- cently became a satellite clinic of Shift Concussion, a Guelph-based organiza- tion that was the only Canadian pro- vider to be designated as an ImPACT Centre of Excellence. ImPACT has developed a globally recognized state-of-the-art concussion management model that involves con- ducting neurocognitive baseline tests before the athlete takes to the playing field, providing valuable information for treatment and return-to-play deci- sions should a concussion occur. "We now have hard data and more information to diagnose and treat the concussion, rather than going off of, 'How do you feel?' or symptoms that may or may not be there," said Ben- nett, who said he was diagnosed with a concussion four times during his seven- year professional hockey career. "As a parent of a daughter with Sec- ond Impact Syndrome, we've driven all over the place to take her to specialists and what-not, so it's more convenient to have a clinic in town. There's no excuse not to get the baseline test and the sports associations in town need to adopt this program. Hopefully it'll save some kids the trouble we've gone through with our daughter, because it didn't have to happen. It was misman- aged and could have been prevented." Bennett pointed out that it's manda- tory in a growing number of organiza- tions to get the baseline testing done and InFocus has approached local groups about having their registrants incorporated into the Shift program. Cost is $25 per person for the 30-min- ute test, which Bennett describes as "priceless brain insurance." InFocus owner Jenni Veneruz said she's treated hundreds of "dizzy" peo- ple in this area and beyond. She was impressed with the Shift Concussion model and its affiliation with stopcon- cussions, an awareness organiza- tion founded by former NHLer Keith Primeau. The ImPACT model was developed 11 years ago in part by Dr. Michael Col- lins of the University of Pittsburgh, who was asked by the National Football League to help determine safe return to play. "They're the concussion gurus. They've developed the ImPACT test- ing and the management protocol and we're just bringing that to Canada," said Veneruz, whose InFocus clinic opened three years ago and offers a variety of services including physiotherapy, mas- sage therapy, vestibular and neurologi- cal rehabilitiation and dietician services. "We've been referred so many con- cussions from doctors like Katie, who just slip through the cracks. I thought that there had to be a better way to manage these kids and get them back to school. Rather than reinvent the wheel, Shift has already done all the legwork so as a facility we decided to join forces with them. There are so many levels of injury and we have a big resource pool of health professionals who we can re- fer to." Veneruz added that the encourag- ing initial response to the inclusion of the Shift program likely means she'll be soon looking for a larger operating space for the centre. TEAM OF THE WEEK: Georgetown's un- der-14 boys' Impact captured top spot at a recent Ontario Volleyball Association tournament in Mis- sissauga, going undefeated through pool play and playoffs. The Impact defeated Stratford and Wa- terloo in the preliminary round, then beat London's Forest City in the semifinals and a much-taller Rich- mond Hill squad 25-17, 25-13 for the champion- ship. Team members (front, from left) are: Steven Abrams, Chris Bowen, Mitchell Hood. Middle row: Coach Aly Young, Andrew Kroeger, Ben Watson. Back row: Trevour Wyeld, Jake Albert, Ben Abram, Nathan Rothery, Josh Menheere, Nic Basilio, coaches George Albert, Dave Hood. Absent: Ryan Gibson. Submitted photo Town of Halton Hills Councillor Bryan Lewis congratulates Georgetown's InFo- cus Rehabilitation Centre kinesiologist Kirstin Schenk (left) along with owner and physiotherapist Jenni Veneruz for recently becoming a certified satellite clinic with the Shift Concussion management program. Photo by Eamonn Maher Local centre testing for concussions By EAMONN MAHER Staff Writer The Acton Minor Hockey Association recently presented a cheque for $30,000 to the Halton Hills Arena User's Group (HHAUG) . Participating in the presentation were Bill Curry (AMHA presi- dent), Carolyn Thompson (AMHA treasurer), Angie Palmer (AMHA secretary), Brenda Geim (AMHA vice-president of rep hockey), Tammy Somerville (AMHA director) and Steve Highfield (Co-Chair Halton Hills Arena Users Group). Photo by Ray Lavender AMHA aids HHAUG