For the past several years, Crozer-Keystone Health System has worked closely with several local area schools to provide athletic training services and physician services to the schools’ student athletes.

Crozer-Keystone’s Human Motion Institute has spearhead this initiative, providing athletic trainers to Springfield High School, Ridley High School, Chester High School and Interboro High School, and providing physician coverage to Penn Wood High School, Interboro High School, Chester High School, Ridley High School, Haverford High School, Williamson Trade School, Strath Haven High School, the Glen Mills schools and Monsignor Bonner High School. In addition, the athletic departments of two local colleges, Widener University and Swarthmore College, receive physician assistance from, respectively, James Zurbach, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, and Charles D. Hummer III, M.D., also an orthopedic surgeon at Crozer-Chester Medical Center.

Physicians Provide Support

“The best part about serving as the team physician at the high schools is that we get to have a small part in the athlete’s participation and success in a sport,” says Brian Shiple, D.O., division chief of Sports Medicine for Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Springfield Hospital, director of the Sports Medicine Fellowship program, and medical director of the Healthplex^® Sports Club. “We also assist in giving the team the best chance to suit up and play on game night, making sure their injuries are healed enough to safely play.”

Shiple adds that although it’s nice to be a part of a team’s success, it’s the athlete — not the team — that comes first.

Shiple and Steven Collina, M.D., co-director, Crozer-Keystone Sports Medicine Fellowship, and assistant director, Crozer-Keystone Family Medicine Residency Program, split their time between Penn Wood, Interboro, Chester, Ridley and Monsignor Bonner, generally providing sideline coverage at each school’s football games and some of the schools’ home wrestling matches. In both of these sports, the potential for a catastrophic head or neck injury is higher than that of other sports, and timely physician care can make the difference in the athlete’s survival from an injury of that magnitude, Shiple says.

“The sports medicine physicians are one part of a community of people that combine to provide each athlete with a team of support in regards to the athlete’s health,” Shiple says. “The parents, the trainer, ancillary services, the coach and we as physicians are like the spokes in a wheel in regards to the athlete. It’s important all the ‘spokes’ have communication with each other.

Our goal is to provide excellent health care to the athlete and do what needs to be done to keep the athlete safe and healthy, and if injured, to get that athlete back on the field and playing soon as safely as possible.”

“We bring a Division-I collegiate-level philosophy to these high schools in terms of providing care to the athletes,” Collina says. “When you have a close relationship with the athletic trainer, or you’re on sidelines of the game when an injury occurs, you’re able to provide immediate care to the athlete, rather than not seeing the athlete until much later after the initial injury occurred.”

Trainers: Onsite Assistance

Scott Law, administrative director of Rehabilitation Services at Taylor Hospital, says the high schools appreciate the close relationship afforded to them when the school has a full-time health system athletic trainer on board.

“We receive very positive feedback from the high schools,” Law says. “The schools’ big concern is continuity of care for the students, which we are able to provide by having our trainers at the schools. Ed Aldridge, the athletic trainer at Ridley, can facilitate for the student-athlete who to see, where to go and communicate this to all the parents as well.”

Paul Van Thuyne, administrative director of Rehabilitation Services at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, supervises Ken Santello, a health system-employed athletic trainer who spends countless hours at Chester over the course of a year, covering practices, games, sport camps and everything in between.

“It’s a full-time job for him,” Van Thuyne says. “He’s there from after school until the last practice or game is over and whenever the athletic director needs him.”

Van Thuyne adds that Santello has also worked with students at the high school who have shown an interest in sports medicine and athletic training by providing them with basic first aid and taping instruction.

“It’s a win-win situation for the school and Ken,” Van Thuyne says. “They’ve enjoyed a long relationship together and it’s worked out very well.”

John Patton is the athletic trainer at Interboro High School, while Colleen Scheb provides those services for Springfield High School.

Long-Lasting Relationships

Joseph Stellabotte, M.D., a Taylor Hospital sports medicine physician who is the team physician at Haverford, has also enjoyed a long relationship with the school.

“I’ve worked there several years now and it’s very beneficial to build this type of long-term relationship with the school, the coaches and the students,” Stellabotte says. “When you develop a good rapport with coaches and schools, they trust you, and everything works more efficiently.”

Robert Cabry, M.D., a sports medicine physician at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, and Evan Bash, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, have also developed relationships with local schools. Bash covers Glen Mills, while Cabry covers Strath Haven and Williamson Trade School. Like Stellabotte, Cabry also emphasizes the importance of developing trust between the school and the physician.

“From a doctor’s perspective, it’s fun to get involved with students on the field,” Cabry says. “From the school and parent level, they get to develop a comfort level with the physician, so they are not concerned for the kids on the field.”

Cabry adds that having a health system athletic trainer or sports medicine physician at a school benefits the student athlete.

“Physicians trained in the field of sports medicine can assess the best course of action for the injured athlete in terms of recovery and recovery time,” Cabry says. “We can determine if the injury is something we can bandage up and the student can play in the next game or if the injury is more serious and requires surgery or rehabilitation.” 

Cabry also works to increase understanding about potential injuries to student-athletes by giving lectures to coaches and parents throughout the year at his two schools He says the most common injuries he sees from student athletes are injuries to the knee, shoulder and lower back. 

The Crozer-Keystone Human Motion Institute is a comprehensive program of musculoskeletal services provided across the health system including orthopedic/joint care, sports medicine, hand care, outpatient rehabilitation, foot/ankle care, and spine care. Services include surgery, therapy, education, medical management and more. For more information, call 1-800-CK-HEALTH (1-800-254-3258) or visit www.crozer.org.