Kelly Potteiger, Ph.D., AT, ATC, has been working on some ground-breaking research on sustainability and environmental effects of athletic training. Potteiger, an alumna of the PhD in Athletic Training program at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions, is currently an associate professor and the program director for the Athletic Training program at Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, IL).
When she was looking into earning her PhD in Athletic Training, Potteiger states, “I was looking for a flexible program related to my field of study and Rocky Mountain University checked all the boxes for me. Also Dr. Malissa Martin has an excellent reputation in the field of athletic training—particularly for teaching and learning. Therefore, I felt good about attending a program under her direction. The other unique part of the Rocky Mountain experience is that your professors are traveling to campus just like the students. This captured environment allowed for us to connect with many of our instructors in a way that we would ordinarily not have had.”
Dr. Potteiger recently published two articles in the Journal of Athletic Training (JAT): “Athletic Trainers’ Attitudes and Perceptions of Environmental Sustainability” and “Examining the Environmental Effects of Athletic Training: Perceptions of Waste and the Use of Green Techniques.” Dr. Potteiger interest in these topics began as she realized that over the past five years more people have been thinking about the health of the environment and that the changing political landscape in the United States has helped people and corporations feel more compelled to take action.
Having grown up in a rural environment and then moving to Chicago, Potteiger was able to witness the effects of millions of people living near each other and the waste that resulted. While in Chicago, she also noticed that the city was trying to pass green initiatives, such as rooftop gardens and bike sharing to make the most out of natural resources. By witnessing these things, she comments, it forced her to look at her clinical practice and to evaluate the amount of waste that she was producing.
“As a healthcare professional, I feel obligated to help make our world a healthier place to live. There is a link between the health of the environmental and the health of the population. Conditions such as asthma, heat illnesses, and cardiovascular and pulmonary strain are either directly or indirectly linked to climate change. As a member of society, we just really need to be more conscientious of our use of natural resources. As a new mom, I now have even more reason to want to leave the world better for future generations to enjoy.”
In regards to the heart of her publications in the JAT, Potteiger states that they stemmed from the data collected during her dissertation. Potteiger was eager to learn if and how athletic trainers thought about issues related to environmental sustainability during their clinical practice. She hypothesized that some athletic trainers living in certain geographical areas might think more often about how their actions affect the earth. Her findings supported her hypothesis.
Potteiger found that athletic trainers in the Northeast and the Pacific Northwest demonstrated “higher knowledge and more sensitivity to issues related to environmental sustainability than their counterparts in the South and Southeastern portion of the United States.” Dr. Potteiger was also curious if athletic trainers thought there was a large amount of waste produced by their clinical practice and what, if any, actions they might be taking to lessen their waste. She found that many athletic trainers believe there is a large amount of waste produced by their clinical practice and that water, plastics, and non-recyclable paper were the largest reported wasted resource. She also concluded that some athletic trainers who have taken the initiative to be more waste conscious use basic methods of conservation like reduce, reuse, and recycle to lessen their waste.
Potteiger hopes that her publications raise awareness of the waste produced in healthcare and that more healthcare professionals will evaluate their own practices. Dr. Potteiger states, “it would be really interesting to see how attitudes and perspectives vary among healthcare professionals and that together, I think we can help create a demand for more sustainable healthcare products.”
