Free Physical Exams for Central Falls High School Student Athletes

If you were to ask any recent high school graduate to list the highlights of those four years, chances are they will mention their participation in their school’s sports teams. Whether they were the crushed-on captain of their football team or the self-proclaimed hater of ball sports who found their niche in the cross-country team, many grads look back on their high school team as an antidote to daily stress, a major confidence booster, and as the main focus for social growth throughout their high school career. (The most concrete evidence of this can be found in students’ college essays, in which the focus on sports teams is so rampant that students are advised to use caution when writing about the “hackneyed subject”.)

If sports hold such a crucial presence in the typical high school experience, one would hope that every student could have the opportunity to take advantage of them. Of course, it is not always the case. It was thus with great excitement that Central Falls High School provided free physical exams for its students in a six hour-long session on July 23. Despite the baking heat of the hallways and locker rooms, the group of Central Falls faculty and physicians from the Memorial Hospital of RI and the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University could hardly contain their enthusiasm: thanks to their efforts and those of the several residents and medical students, over 50 Central Falls students will be able to participate in the high school’s sports teams for the first time this fall.

Family physician and lead organizer of the project Dr. Jordan White of the Memorial Hospital of RI was glad to give physical exams to students who would not have otherwise been able to play school sports: “physicals came up as a priority that we as medical providers could potentially help out with,” she explains. The most common roadblocks aspiring players encountered in getting the necessary exam were financial: some can’t afford to go to a clinic, or, according to Marie Grist, the school’s head nurse, many “don’t have a family doctor or the ability to pay at an urgent care center.” In some cases, as Dr. White points out, the annual check-ups themselves are inadequate: “School physical exams require testing for specific areas, such as hereditary cardiac problems, orthopedic injuries and ankle sprains, which a normal check-up doesn’t usually provide”. Other impediments included lack of insurance, the remoteness of health centers, and the sheer hassle of scheduling appointments. As Dr Susanna Magee, Director of Maternal Child Health at the Warren Alpert Medical School sums it up, the six-hour exam marathon saved the students lots of “time and energy.”

And that’s not all. The ramifications of July 23’s event will reach farther than this fall: in the future, Classical High School hopes to formally reestablish a school-based health clinic (it closed years ago for lack of funding) that will continue to derive its aid from Memorial Hospital and Warren Alpert physicians and medical students. In addition to providing basic primary care and free and accessible physical exams, it will be a “patient-centered medical home”. According to Dr. White, this relatively new medical doctrine places the patient “in charge of his or her own health care”, meaning it is conducive to teenagers taking the initiative in preventative rather than reactionary measures to achieve mental and physical health. This medical strategy is ideal for a school striving to eradicate substance abuse and teenage pregnancy among its students and to raise a responsible and high-achieving student population. In addition, as Dr. White reminds us, “studies show participation in sports leads to good academic outcomes.”

Evidently, if the six-hour physicals session is a small step for the school, it is a big kick for those future soccer players – and all other athletes, of course. In fact, with a fresh batch of football, baseball, basketball players and track and field runners joining the already highly competitive teams, one thing is certain: expect to see a lot of Central Falls victories in the local headlines this coming year.