Medical/Sports Med FAQs
If I have mental health struggles while I’m home, what should I do?
We know that uncertain times or constantly changing scenarios can increase mood or mental health disturbances and affect each one of us. For a great resource around this, please see:
https://afsp.org/taking-care-of-your-mental-health-in-the-face-of-uncertainty/
We are working on establishing means for our mental health staff to be able to do counseling sessions via phone or web-video conferencing. Once we have those established, we will provide updates.
If you, a loved one, or teammate are in a crisis, please go to the local emergency room or call 911 for assistance.
We are in this together, and help is always available. If you’re feeling alone and struggling, you can also reach out to The Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741 or National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK.
What are the Signs and Symptoms of COVID-19?
Please see the Center for Disease Control Website:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/symptoms.html
How do I try and prevent the illness?
Here is a great resource:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/prevention.html
What do I do if I get sick while I am away from campus?
Please seek medical assistance in your local community. Please realize that you are covered under student insurance, via United Health Care.
Below is the United healthcare website along with student insurance office website. You can go to the uhcsr website to print a card should you need one for your local health care facility.
- Visit https://www.uhcsr.com/
- Click on “login to my account” in righthand corner.
- In most cases their username is your netid.
- Here is a screenshot of the home page where you can click on “ID Card” to view your insurance card:
University Student Insurance Office website: http://si.illinois.edu/
Other questions about COVID-19, availability of testing, and related matter? How do we find out more?
We are getting some questions about risk of COVID-19, availability of testing, and related issues. Please realize some of these are better answered at the local community level. It would be wise to find and start following your local public health department. For those in Champaign-Urbana, the COVID19.illinois.edu and mckinley.illinois.edu websites will be the best resources.
Do I need to notify someone on campus if I’m exposed to someone who is sick? If so, who do I contact?
If you are off campus, please focus on seeking medical assistance first and then notify and update your team athletic trainer and/or Randy Ballard. If campus implements any kind of reporting requirement, we will make you aware of that as well.
You mentioned those that needed rehab assistance could stay in Champaign but what about those with regular mental health appointments?
This is still a fluid situation. Depending on campus decisions, we’ll make decisions about who we are recommending to stay on campus. If you have mental health appointments, please keep in contact with Jim Maurer via email at jim.maurer@carle.com and we’ll keep you posted on options either in person or via phone/web.
How will coaches/AT’s, etc. continue to communicate regularly with me in the weeks ahead?
Please be checking email on a regular basis. Randy, our Director of Sports Medicine will be updating these FAQs and sending out updates as needed. You can also text or call you team Athletic Trainers. Please realize that given the fluidity of things, guidance can and will change based on a host of factors.
