Jason Merrill
ST. LOUIS – Saint Louis University and Saint Louis University Hospital have engaged in a three-year pilot program with the Archdiocese of St. Louis, St. Mary’s High School and Bishop DuBourg High School to provide on-site sports medicine care for their student athletes, offering athletic training services at games and practices. The pilot program is provided to the schools as a community service at no cost to them.
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| Bridget Quirk MAT, ATC |
Such partnerships are rare in area high school athletics. Should the collaboration succeed in improving the care of injured student athletes, the goal is to expand the pilot program to other areas in the St. Louis region.
“Saint Louis University (SLU) is a natural fit to provide this care to the city’s Catholic schools,” says Anthony Breitbach, PhD, director of the athletic training program at SLU’s Doisy College of Health Sciences. “We’re excited to help keep their student athletes healthy and on the field.”
To launch the program, Bridget Quirk, MAT, ATC was hired by the SLU AT Program, funded by Saint Louis University Hospital, to provide on-site training and education at the two schools. A recent graduate of Doisy College’s athletic training program at SLU, she will be working with student athletes in all the high schools’ sports ranging from boys’ football and soccer to girls’ softball and volleyball.
“I’m excited to provide comprehensive sports medicine to St. Mary’s, Bishop DuBourg and their athletes so they can get back to the field better, faster, stronger,” says Quirk.
For more severe injuries, SLUCare orthopaedic surgeons and sports medicine physicians Scott Kaar, MD, and Adnan Cutuk, MD, will be available through the partnership to offer their expertise with accelerated access to care in their orthopaedic sports medicine clinics. Drs. Kaar and Cutuk will also be on the sidelines for Bishop DuBourg and St. Mary’s home football games.
“The efforts of all partners will make a difference in health care and education in our community,” says Robert Oliveri, Ed.D, associate superintendent for secondary education with the Archdiocese of St. Louis. “The inclusion of Saint Louis University Hospital and Saint Louis University bring high quality medical support to the process, enriching the project and health care for our students.”
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Saint Louis University Hospital is a 356-licensed bed quaternary/tertiary referral center located in the heart of the city of St. Louis. Approximately 75 percent of patients are drawn from a 150-mile radius. Through affiliation as the teaching hospital for Saint Louis University, the hospital provides patients and their families with an environment of medical innovation. Working in this endeavor are the hospital’s medical staff partners, SLUCare, the physicians of Saint Louis University. The hospital admits more than 17,000 patients annually, performs more than 200 organ transplants a year and is a Level I Trauma Center that treats more than 2,000 major trauma cases a year. For more information, please visitwww.sluhospital.com.
Nationally accredited and with more than 500 physicians, SLUCare is the medical practice group of Saint Louis University School of Medicine. The school educates physicians and biomedical scientists, conducts medical research, and provides health care on a local, national and international level.
Long a leader in educating health professionals, Saint Louis University offered its first degree in an allied health profession in 1929. Today the Doisy College of Health Sciences offers degrees in physical therapy, athletic training education, clinical laboratory science, nutrition and dietetics, health informatics and information management, health sciences, medical imaging and radiation therapeutics, occupational science and occupational therapy, and physician assistant education. The college's unique curriculum prepares students to work with health professionals from all disciplines to ensure the best possible patient care.
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