No-cost exams

Nearly 100 James Wood High School athletes receive free physicals

July 19, 2010
By Vic Bradshaw

WINCHESTER- With two children likely to play a total of four or five school sports between them, Lynda Tyler is facing up to $375 in pay-to-participate fees in the coming school year.

Mandatory athletic physicals, which are not covered by the family's insurance, threatened to add another $350 to $400 expense for Chase and Loralee Tyler to be on James Wood High School teams in 2010-11, money difficult to come by in a weak economy.

But the latter expense will never come out of the Tyler checkbook. Thanks to the James Wood Touchdown Club and James Wood Athletic Association, the Tyler children received free physicals Saturday at the Winchester Medical Center campus.

"Now with pay-to-participate," Lynda Tyler said, "it's gotten to the point where (high school) sports are like a luxury, and I don't think they should be a luxury.

"I know a lot of people are struggling and there are a lot of people who want to participate in sports, and it can be financially prohibitive. [The free physicals] helps make it manageable," said Tyler, a former member of the Frederick County Board of Supervisors.

To balance the fiscal 2011 budget, the School Board in April agreed to implement a "pay to participate" program that requires high school athletes system-wide to pay $75 for each sport they play. Ninth-grade sports were also eliminated.

Both measures go into effect this fall.

Saturday's no-cost examinations were the result of a whirlwind volunteer effort spearheaded by Lowell Henderson, the Touchdown Club's vice president.

He secured a site - the offices of Shenandoah University's physician assistant program at the hospital - and lined up medical professionals and students to volunteer to administer the exams.

Henderson's effort to arrange the free physicals began May 11, when he heard about the pay-to-participate initiative.

He contacted doctors he knew, and they volunteered. He reached out to Shenandoah University faculty members who teach physician assistants and athletic trainers. He shadowed a similar program at Shenandoah Memorial Hospital, where free physicals are given for athletes from all three of Shenandoah County's high schools.

As a result, in about six hours over two Saturdays, free physicals were provided for nearly 100 James Wood athletes.

Nearly 40 medical professionals or students and seven or eight parents volunteered their time to make it happen.

"Several parents came and talked to us, saying they didn't know where they were going to come up with the money for physicals," said Henderson, CEO of Premier Health Resources, a local health services company.

The exam process was fairly simple. Students, who came at set appointment times, passed from station-to-station in the physician-assistant program offices, with a different body section checked at each stop.

Walk-ins also were taken. Henderson said 12 or more athletes showed up for physicals June 5 clinic after getting phone calls or text messages from people who were there.

The exam process was set up by Rachel Carlson, associate dean of SU's physician assistant program. She helped recruit about 15 student volunteers to assist in the effort, and faculty members were on hand to supervise.

"It's great experience for them," she said of the students. "It's nice for them to be able to fulfill a need within the community for these student-athletes."

The exams actually were more comprehensive than the routine athletic physical. Functional capacity exams (FCE) were added to learn more about how the athletes moved and determine areas of potential weakness so they can be targeted, perhaps preventing injury.

John Hunt introduced the array of seven tests at Capital Rehab of Winchester, then transferred them to the athletic training division at Shenandoah, where he's an assistant professor. The tests give the trainers overseeing them a picture of the athlete's mobility and stability. Trunk stability and hip mobility were the most common problems identified.

"If we find a weak link," he said, "we can give [the athlete] appropriate exercises so they don't sustain an injury."

Five athletic-training students volunteered to help with the FCEs, with three collecting data for a research study.

Jess Myers, James Wood's athletic trainer, assisted with the FCEs and said the information she was learning would help "exponentially."

"We can learn about issues they have before they even go on the field," she said.

Caleb Presgrapes was one of the athletes who had his physical Saturday. The rising senior plays football, and he left with advice to work on strengthening his ankles to improve his balance.

Caleb said he preferred the physical with the FCE "because it goes more in-depth and tells me what I need instead of just checking the usual."

To even try out for scholastic athletics, the Virginia High School League requires students to pass a physical. For the upcoming school year, the exams need to be performed after May 1.

For years, Frederick County teamed with area doctors to provide free athletic physicals, said Steve Edwards, the district's coordinator of policy, records management, and communications. But that program was discontinued.

"We appreciate the fact that the community stepped up to make those physicals available," Edwards said Friday.

No similar effort is under way to provide free physicals for athletes at Sherando and Millbrook high schools, Edwards said.

A Handley High School official said Friday that the school provides physicals for its athletes in the spring. Athletics officials with Clarke County High School could not be reached for comment.

Henderson said he hopes that with a year to plan, arrangements can be made to provide free physicals for athletes at all three county high schools next year.

The booster groups' efforts don't end with the physicals. Henderson said fundraisers are being held to help students who can't afford the pay-to-participate fee, with a goal of raising $2,500. Local businesses also might be asked to help sponsor athletes.

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