Awards

Dr. Mark Lafave has been a Certified Athletic Therapist since 1992 and a member since 1988. Mark’s passion for athletic therapy and injury rehabilitation began during his undergraduate degree in Physical Education and Master’s Degree in Science at the University of Manitoba. During this time, Mark worked primarily with varsity football and hockey. After graduation, he worked as an athletic therapist for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and in private practice at the Pan Am Sport Medicine Clinic.

In 1994, Mark came to Alberta and served as the head athletic therapist for Mount Royal University Cougar Athletics for 4 years helping to create Mount Royal’s Wellness Centre, and then continuing on to a faculty role and athletic therapy program coordinator in 1998. In 1994, Mark also began working for the Canadian Professional Rodeo Sport Medicine Team and has worked for the team for over 25 years, serving as CPRSMT president from 2007-2014.

In 2007, Mark completed his PhD at the University of Calgary with a focus on measurement and evaluation in medical education. This has led him to promote the profession in academic literature, authoring articles in clinical research on knee and shoulder outcome measures and athletic therapy education. As a result, Mark and his research colleagues have collaboratively presented over 100 research presentations at national and international sport medicine and education-related conferences.

Mark is the recipient of the Outstanding Supervisory Athletic Therapist (2001), the Distinguished Athletic Therapy Educator Award (2005), and the Career Achievement Award for Research at Mount Royal University (2018). One of his most cherished is the Gord Mackie Scholarship Award (1989) that he received as University of Manitoba undergraduate student.

He values service to the profession in multiple capacities serving on the CATA Education Committee (1994-2002), CATA International Relations Committee (2000-2004), as CATA board of directors (2002-2005), CATA President in 2002, and the CATA Program Accreditation Committee (2013-2019). He is particularly proud to have served as chair of the CATA Education Task Force in 2013 and revising the CATA Competency Framework (2017-2019).

Doug was born and raised in Petrolia, Ontario (home of the Hunter’s-Coach/Manager of the 2019 World Jr. Champions). He graduated from the University of Guelph with a Bachelor of Science (Agriculture) in 1970 and later a Bachelor of Physiotherapy from the University of Western Ontario in 1973. He certified with The Canadian Athletic Therapists Association in 1977. He quickly went into private practice where he enjoyed a phenomenally successful and giving career as the owner and operator of a number of physical therapy enterprises between 1978 and 2017. 

He is the consummate educator. Doug has shared his extensive knowledge and skills by presenting at many CATA Conferences and various seminars. He was instrumental in introducing Athletic Therapists to acupuncture and manual therapy techniques inspiring many to get further qualifications in these areas. Additionally, from 1989-2000, Doug taught the Sports Injuries Prevention and Care (SIPAC) program through the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Sport. This introduced many coaches and parents to sport injury prevention and the profession of Athletic Therapy. Doug was a lecturer for the Ontario Hockey Development Corporation in the education of hockey trainers. He was also an adjunct clinical instructor at the University of Toronto Physiotherapy program. His open and giving personality drew many to want to learn from him.

Doug is known as a therapist who loves to learn and to teach, but also one who enjoys working with stubborn, complicated and unexplained injures. Many of his colleagues consulted with him on difficult to manage injuries.

One of Doug’s most important contributions to Athletic Therapy has been his representation on many Major Games extending from 1979 to 2017. He has been part of the Canadian Medical Team at 3 Pan American Games, 1 Invictus Games, 3 Paralympic Games, 4 Winter Olympics, 3 World Student Games, and 1 World Blind Sports Championshis. Five times he has been the Chief Therapist. These are significant contributions to the health care of athletes. Doug has been known as an outstanding therapist all his career serving the full range of Canadians from the once a week warrior o the professional ranks. He is proud to call himself an Athletic Therapist.

A native of Montreal, Quebec, Lynn graduated with a Bachelor in Physical Education from Dalhousie University in 1980. She later completed a Master of Science in Physical Education with a Specialization in Athletic Training from Indiana University in August 1982. Lynn successfully completed her Canadian Athletic Therapists Association Certification in May 1985. She was a founding member of the Quebec Athletic Therapist Association as well as member of the Sport Medicine Council of Canada. Lynn has held the position of McGill Sport Medicine Clinic Head Therapist and Manager from August 1982 to June 2017.

Lynn was a Medical Team Member at the Canada Winter Games in Sydney, Nova Scotia, in February 1987 and a Canadian Medical Team Member at the World University Games in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, in August 1987. Lynn was President of the Canadian Athletic Therapist Association from 1989-1990. She was a Canadian Medical Team Member at the World Figure Skating Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1990, Chief Therapist for the Canadian Medical Team at the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, in 1992, Canadian Medial Team Member at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1994 and was the Canadian Team Therapist at the World Precision Figure Skating Championships from 1996-1999. Lynn also served as the Staff Therapist for the McGill Redmen Hockey team from 1983-2009.

Lynn has been a long time member of the CATA Ethics Committee as well as the Curriculum Accreditation Committee. In addition, her passion for educating student therapists has been demonstrated in her teaching of the Prevention and Care of Athletic Injuries Course in the McGill Department of Kinesiology from 1983-2015. Lynn’s academic and research interests have been highlighted in work on the topic, a Necessity for an Emergency Care Protocol in Sport, as well as Concussion Management.

Cindy Hughes has been a certified member of the CATA since 1986. She has been very involved with the CATA over the span of her career. In 1988, she was on the CATA Conference Organizing Committee. She was on the Board of Directors from 1889-1995, Chair of Site Accreditation Committee in 2000, Spokesperson on Dehydration in 2002, Financial Advisory Committee from 2001-2003, High Performance Provider Committee from 2010-2013, Ethics Committee from 2008 to the present. She was an examiner from1996-2001, an SAT from 1990-2015, and a mentor from 2018-present. Cindy was awarded the Special Recognition Award in 2000 and inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017.

She represented the CATA at 9 major games including 3 Olympics, 2 of which she was the Chief Therapist. Cindy worked at York University for 22 years as the Head Athletic Therapist. During that time she was instrumental in developing medical policies for OUA varsity athletes. She also contributed to many published papers on sport concussion as well as giving many presentations on the topic. Previous to York University she worked at Humber College for 5 years as the Head Athletic Therapist and Basketball Canada for 7 years.

Cindy is honoured and grateful to be awarded Member Emeritus and thankful to the CATA for all the professional opportunities, friendships and learning that evolved due to her involvement with the Association.

Dr. Geoffrey Dover has been a member of the Canadian Athletic Therapists Association since 1996, graduating from Sheridan College with a Diploma in Sport Injury Management and became Certified as an Athletic Therapist in 1999. He then continued his education with a Master’s Degree and a PhD from the University of Florida.

In 2008, Dr. Dover accepted a faculty position at Concordia University and has been a major influence on many Student and Certified Athletic Therapists. He has taught a variety of courses and integrates his research knowledge to bring evidence-based decision making into the classroom. His research led to the development of a new course within the Health, Kinesiology and Applied Physiology curriculum: Pain Management Strategies.

As the Graduate Program Director for the department Dr. Dover plays an important role for the entire program but also actively supervises Doctoral, Masters, and undergraduate students. He was instrumental in establishing a graduate assistantship program at Concordia that funds graduate students who are also certified athletic therapists through placements with varsity sports teams.

Dr. Dover is also passionate about progressing his research interests. His interests focus on the psychosocial aspect of pain. He is a strong advocate for increasing the amount of research within the body of knowledge that relates to athletic therapy. He has published over 19 articles and has given numerous presentations. Good examples of his applied research in athletic therapy include two recent publications titled “Low Back Pain Treatment by Athletic Trainers and Athletic Therapists: Biomedical or Biopsychosocial Orientation?” and “Chronic pain patients’ kinesiophobia and catastrophizing are associated with activity intensity at different times of the day” which were published in the Journal of Athletic Training and the Journal of pain research respectively.

In addition, Dr. Dover is also beloved by his students and rates amongst the top 5% of professors in the sciences at Concordia University. His students describe him as an engaging educator who integrates real world examples and scenarios which not only aid in learning but are also entertaining.

Chris Trivieri, the Head Athletic Therapist for the Niagara Ice Dogs and his fellow staff were faced with a life-threatening injury to their goalie Tucker Tynan during a game against the London Knights on December 12, 2019 at the Meridian Center in St. Catharines.

A player collided skates first into Tucker, which resulted in a deep laceration to his Quad nearly slicing through his femoral artery. Chris was the first attendant immediately on the scene where he quickly assessed the seriousness of the life-threatening injury and applied pressure to the area. He remained calm and directed the other team’s therapist to apply a tourniquet. The hemorrhaging was immediately extensive. Chris continued to coordinate the care of this athlete and worked diligently alongside his team of training, medical and support staff to remove the goaltender’s equipment and to stop the massive blood loss.

Paramedics on site safely transported Tucker to the hospital, within minutes of the injury, to be treated further with surgical intervention.

Chris Trivieri, along with his team, did what we as Athletic Therapists hope to never have to face. He used his proficient skills and training to flawlessly and meritoriously save Tucker Tynan’s life.

The Local St. Catharines newspaper called “The Standard” reported the following:

• “Quick action by medical and training staff from both teams, including Chris Trivieri, Nick Hornby and Nick Tamburri of the Ice Dogs and Doug Stacey of the Knights, is being credited with saving the rookie’s life.
• “Doctors at St. Catharines hospital, where Tynan had emergency surgery Thursday night told Ice Dog’s general manager Joey Burke that only the immediate attention Tynan received on the ice saved his life.”
• Their exact wording to me was that, “The work of the on-ice staff and everyone in house saved his life,” Burke said during a news conference Friday. “There was a point in time last night where it was an option that he may have died on the ice due to loss of blood.”
• “My hat goes off to everybody involved. True professionals and it could not have been handled better”

The Standard, Monday Dec 16. 2019 section C p.2

On November 8, 2019, Mackenzie was covering a gentleman’s soccer league. The soccer facility is quite large, and they use a pager system for communication within the facility. It was 10:55pm. With 5 minutes left in her shift, Mackenzie received a page to go to the opposite end of the facility. Curtains divide the fields, so she was unable to see what was happening.  

She grabbed her supplies and headed down the field. In the time it took her to get to the field, she had received increasingly urgent pages requesting immediate help. Upon arriving at the field, she found a man lying unresponsive on the turf. A large crowd was gathered around him, yelling to her that he was not breathing. She checked his pulse to discover that it was absent. Without hesitation, Mackenzie jumped into action, initiating CPR, calling for the AED and for EMS to be alerted. She performed 8 rounds of CPR. Once the AED arrived, she proceeded to follow it’s prompts and administered a shock. At about that same time, EMS arrived. As she transferred care to EMS, the athlete became responsive. They immediately transported him to the hospital for advanced care.

On November 12th, this 49-year-old father was released from the hospital. On that same day, he contacted Mackenzie in an attempt to express his gratitude. Mackenzie met with him a few days later where he presented her with a necklace with an angel pendant. She is his angel.

Bandon Ames, Oakville Soccer Club’s Adult Programs Coordinator, said the following in a summary of the events that night.

“Because of her, we were able to quickly have the paramedics called, the AED out on the field and plan in place for when EMS arrived as Mackenzie continued to provide CPR to the player. To put it simply, Mackenzie is the reason that this player is still with us today. Without her immediate actions on the field the player would not have received the extensive help Mackenzie provided which ended up saving his life. From myself and the Oakville Soccer Club, we are very proud of Mackenzie and realize we are very lucky to have her as one of our Athletic Therapist Interns.”

It was anything but a typical start to the Okotoks Dawg’s Annual Awards Banquet on February 2nd, 2019 at the Foothills Centennial Centre. Guest speaker, Bob Elliott, had just arrived on stage about to begin his keynote speech. He had made a few comments apologizing for his cold and raspy throat and some comedic remarks to some of the Dawgs coaching and support staff and just before he could address the players, he sat down on a chair that was brought up for later use. He recalls thinking “Man, I don’t feel so good”. Without notice, Bob slid off the chair and fell unconscious. 

Savannah Blakley, Okotoks Dawgs Certified Athletic Therapist, was sitting in the audience. She sprang into action, sprinted towards the stage and directed Angela Burger, the team’s photographer who had just recently completed her CPR certification, to assist her. She immediately took control of the scenario, assessed his vitals and proceeded with CPR.

The teamwork that arose was impeccable. Some members of the Dawg’s team came to the stage to assist with CPR and academy coach Lou Pote ran to the back of the hall to retrieve the defibrillator he had noticed when he entered and brought it to Savannah to apply.

They removed his clothes, applied the pads and pushed the button to analyse his heart rhythm. Shock advised. They delivered one shock. His heart began to beat but faded again quickly.

Meanwhile, two other coaches had gone next door to the Parson Centennial Arena searching for some additional assistance and came across an off-duty firefighter, Geoff Scott, watching his son play hockey. He rushed next door and arrived on scene within 90 seconds after the first 9-1-1 call.

Together with Geoff and Angela, Savannah continued CPR and applied one additional shock to regain his rhythm.

Paramedics arrived on scene within minutes and transported Elliot safely to the hospital for further advanced care.

Elliot said in an article published in the OkotoksToday “he never knew the true meaning of what Okotoks Dawgs announcer and director calls the ‘Dawgs Family’ until his life was saved” and that “those efforts helped him see his family again.”