SPORTS MEDICINE PROGRAM

When Dr. Jelsma came to Sherman in 2000, he started a sports medicine program.    Dr. Jelsma currently serves as the orthopedic team doctor to approximately 20 local high schools and colleges in our community, including Sherman, Denison, Pottsboro, Whitesboro, Van Alstyne, Gunter, and Grayson College.  Dr. Jelsma offers free school physicals to many of our high school athletes.  We have a sports medicine outreach program that provides athletic trainers for many smaller schools which cannot afford a full time trainer.  In addition, the hospital started the first concussion testing program with free screening for local athletes, so athletes with head injuries can be more accurately diagnosed and treated properly in the event of a head injury.

Dr. Jelsma works every Friday night in football season covering as many games as he can attend.  Being on the sidelines at games helps him not only take care of athletic injuries immediately, but gets to know players and their families.  We understand no athlete wants to miss playing, and no coach wants any of his players injured and on the bench.  Worse yet, for seniors, an injury can hurt an athlete’s chances of earning a college scholarship.  In addition, during the fall Dr. Jelsma runs a free clinic on Saturday for any high school area athlete injured in competition.  We want our kids healthy and back in the game as soon as is safely possible.

Ricky Ake and Billy Skidmore are our two athletic trainers who work with Dr. Jelsma on the Sports Medicine Program. Many rural schools do not have the medical knowledge to properly assess the condition of injured athletes. Our trainers do. Ricky Ake has a degree in Sports Medicine in addition to being an athletic trainer. Billy Skidmore is not just an athletic trainer but also a Physician’s Assistant (PA) who helps Dr. Jelsma in the operating room during surgery.