Flora, IL – Clay County Hospital recently donated $3,000 towards the purchase of a helmet concussion monitoring system for the Flora High School football team. The Flora Athletic Department recently started seeking funds to purchase the system manufactured by Riddell helmet manufacturer. In order to install all of the football helmets with this concussion monitoring device, it would cost the football program $6,660.  The monitoring system is not a concussion prevention device, but what it does is help identify possible concussions in order to prevent a more serious brain injury from happening. Utilizing this head injury identification system would greatly lessen the possibility of a more serious brain injury occurring from repeated blows to the head that typically happen during the course of a football game, by not allowing one of their players to continue playing after receiving a severe impact to the head region.  Sensors in the helmet send a notification to a device located on the sidelines, should a player’s head impact, or sequence of impacts exceed a certain threshold. About 3 million young kids, 1 million high school students and 100,000 college athletes play football each year.