Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Swift Care Goes into Action on Friday Nights

Ruth Cummins authored the following press release for UMC. 

Friday night’s football game ended early for Brian Washington, and it really hurt the Provine High senior.

Literally.

The tight end was making a tackle when a couple of players fell on the right side of his leg. His knee took the brunt of it. He felt pain immediately and needed help getting off the field.

Catherine Irvine, the UMMC Sports Medicine athletic trainer who staffs Provine High football games, let Washington’s mom know that her son could get his knee assessed for injury within minutes, rather than waiting until Saturday or Monday to see a physician.

She took him to UMMC’s Friday Night Injury Clinic, where high school football players can be evaluated free of charge by an orthopaedic surgeon. While Washington was seen for his knee, a full roster of injuries is seen by the Medical Center’s sports medicine team.

Within about five minutes of arriving at the University Physicians Pavilion, athletes are placed in an exam room. If X-rays are needed, that’s done immediately, just a few steps from the orthopaedic suite.

It’s a convenient opportunity that not just offers peace of mind to players and their parents or guardian, but specialty care for injuries that most often plague athletes who play football. That can range from bumps, bruises or broken bones; ligament, tendon and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury; to suspected concussion and other potentially serious medical concerns.

“Players can come in and get an exam, an X-ray if needed, and bracing,” said Jeff Martinez, supervisor of UMMC Sports Medicine. “They come straight to University Physicians Pavilion, and we get them checked in. There’s no wait. Getting to see a physician is a very quick process.”

UMMC for several years has offered the Friday night clinic. Athletes can come in after their games, or if they suffer an injury mid-game, can come to the clinic at that time. The clinic operates from 9:30-11:30 p.m., Martinez said.

Washington said he was blocking a player on his left, and one of his teammates was blocking an opponent on Washington’s right. “Somehow, they both fell on me, on my right side,” he said.

He was seen by Dr. William Geissler, a professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation who has staffed the clinic since its inception. After a thorough exam, he gave Washington good news. “Your X-rays are fine. Nothing fractured,” he told him.

Geissler instructed him to ice his knee, and he was fitted for a brace and crutches by team members including Ashlyn Mendrop, a sports medicine physical therapy resident; Dr. Laura Fincher, a sports medicine fellow; and registered nurse Haylee Wilson.

“You’re going to have swelling around there for sure, on and off,” Wilson told Washington.

The physician’s time is free of charge, but patients are charged for additional services. Walk-ins are welcome, but if possible, parents or athletic trainers are asked to call ahead at (601) 815-4721. If the player is traveling from out of town or there’s a concern about getting to the clinic by 11:30, Martinez said, they can call ahead and “we’ll wait for them.”

The clinic has had many busy nights, but plenty of specialists are available. The group also includes Dr. Derrick Burgess, an assistant professor in Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation; Dr. Brian Tollefson, a professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and assistant professor in Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation; Dr. Rudy Napodano, assistant professor of Emergency Medicine; and Dr. Izuchukwu K. Ibe, assistant professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation.

If follow-up is needed, “the order for their appointment will be put in over the weekend so that we can start working with them first thing Monday. The process is expedited,” Martinez said.

If a player has suffered a possible concussion, he will receive a thorough examination and review of symptoms, and he will be asked how he’s feeling at the time. Parents or guardians will be instructed to be on guard for symptoms over the next few days, Martinez said.

“Most symptoms begin to resolve within 24 hours, but we caution them on worsening symptoms,” Martinez said. “If anything seems abnormal, or the player has increased symptoms, we advise them to go to the emergency room.”

The sports medicine team also communicates with the athletic trainer for the player’s team to make sure that protocols are being followed for the athlete’s return to play, depending on the player’s health concerns. UMMC staffs football games for six metro-area teams with certified athletic trainers.

While most injuries are minor or easily resolved, Martinez said, others can be scary or concerning in the weeks ahead. Last season, he said, “we had an athlete who presented with a concussion from a Friday night football game. During the exam, he mentioned neck pain.

“The physician did a neck exam and saw something potentially alarming, and she sent that athlete to the ER. It ended up being resolved through appropriate rest, but if they’d continued to play, it certainly could have become more complicated.”

Not just the specialty care, but the convenience for players who live in the metro area make the clinic appealing.

“UMMC is centrally located on the interstate,” Martinez. “You don’t have to worry about waking up an injured teenager on a Saturday morning to get them back downtown. You can get a diagnosis on Friday night and be working with the player’s athletic trainer Saturday to discuss their care, and any needed follow-up with a specialist that Monday morning.”

Jacqui Davis, Washington’s mom, said she’s glad the team’s athletic trainer told her about the clinic.

“It’s not crowded,” she said. “It was very appreciated that we didn’t have to wait until the next day.”

  

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Meanshile my wife went to UMC's Emergency Room "Rapid Track" 3 weeks ago on a Tuesday for both bones in her right leg broken right above her ankle and after waiting for 10 hours in their ER "rapid track" the staff came to her and told her sorry they were closing for the night (10PM) and to come back tomorrow and maybe someone would see her, maybe, they didn't really know and couldn't say for sure if anyone would even see her the next day if she came in when they opened and waited all day.

Anonymous said...

wish they could work on O B. Curtis-

Anonymous said...

Congrats to the medical specialists who care enough about these young men to make themselves available. Football is a serious sport potentially dangerous and causing a lot of concern among parents. This really helps.

Anonymous said...

Who pays for that free care? The high schools?

Anonymous said...

Sacrificing our children for the glory of the sportsball.

Anonymous said...

UMMC is the last place you should take your injured athlete.

Anonymous said...

What is the player has Blue Cross??? Do they leave him lying on the field?

Anonymous said...

KF, do you get paid for these "stories"? UMMC is a profiteering horror show, and @2:21pm it sounds like someone else got paid to post some positive spin. What a load of garbage!

Anonymous said...

There are a few good people left around.

Anonymous said...

3:47 - UMMC is the first and best place in Mississippi to seek out care for a catastrophic injury. They see more than any other Jackson area hospital and area hospitals will provide initial care then refer you to UMMC for catastrophic injuries.

Anonymous said...

5:42 PM For those near the state line Memphis, NOLA, Mobile, Birmingham, Little Rock are the best places to go.

Anonymous said...

The U doesn’t have a surgeon there who has fixed an ACL in 10 years. Why would anyone take their athlete there. UMC on a Friday night. No thanks.

Anonymous said...

Fish, really - UMMC clearly is paying someone for these favorable posts as part of their "communications" department (eyeroll). UMMC is drowning operationally, and also facing several lawsuits (that aren't public yet) and everyone knows it.

Anonymous said...

@4:16 it’s not about what stories he is paid to post. It’s about how much he gets paid not to post the dirt about certain people and families. This is after all, a hate/gossip blog.

Anonymous said...

Nice commercial. Hope the boy does well and recovers without too much delay and discomfort.

As to 'who pays for this', it's a free service provided by the facility in anticipation that the athlete will continue to be seen there and perhaps operated on by them. If that happens, typically school insurance pays for it.

Schools haven't always paid for sports injuries. We got hit for a thousand bucks once due to a knee injury that occurred in Vicksburg while my son was playing for Madison Central. Went to appeal at a board meeting where Sue Jones, then Superintendent, said "We don't pay for those injuries". Athletic Director Mike Justice didn't say a word. At the time, the law was 'it's school district option'. Now it's pretty much universal that they DO pay for sports injury treatment.

If your child is injured during a school function while representing the school, the District should pay for it.

Anonymous said...

Wow! That's quite a team to provide a brace and crutches. Usually the guy who sweeps up and wraps ankles does that.

It's also true that ACL and other soft-tissue injuries are not adequately assessed by X-Ray. According to the 'advertisement', the doc told him the X-Ray showed no fracture and he was good to go. ACL injuries are not fractures.

Anonymous said...

But yet children with serious medical conditions and BCBS insurance are being forced to seek care out of state or pay significant upfront costs and spend hours sorting it out with BC after the fact. Please stop promoting anything UMC does.

Wow said...

The Department of Orthopedics has been a colossal disaster at UMMC. A revolving door of new Department Chairs. What a joke.

Anonymous said...

Objectors beware. If you were injured and needed an ortho examine, you could fine no better ortho than Dr. Geissler.
Kudos to UMMC.
RMQ

Anonymous said...

What a Puff piece. Seriously.

Free?

Yeah. Exactly.

Kingfish said...

UMMC issues press releases on a regular basis. Some gets posted. Sometimes its a nice break from the regular fare here. Ruth is a good writer and I tend to post her press releases, which are really essays.

Anonymous said...

RMQ at 11:46 - You probably have no idea, but a decent, definitive, diagnostic ortho examination for a suspected injury of this type always includes an MRI. I wonder why the boy was dismissed and told he was fine based only on X-ray.

Anonymous said...

KF, Ruth is a talented writer, and it's understood that her pieces are part of UMMC's "communications" department as well. It's the BS positive posts that folks here get tired of. Everyone in the know (inside and out) is aware of the major management problems and egotistical leadership at the organization. Ruth can writer her nice stories, but everyone knows that's just what they are.

Just stories - to distract everyone from reality.


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