Officials from the Sevier County School system have announced Covenant Health and Tennessee Orthopaedic Clinics as the exclusive sports medicine providers to Sevier County student athletes. Covenant Health and TOC will provide their sports healthcare services, valued at approximately half a million dollars, to the school system at no cost.
As part of the three-year agreement, Covenant Health will provide five full-time athletic trainers at each of Sevier County’s five high schools: Gatlinburg-Pittman High School, Pigeon Forge High School, Seymour High School, Sevier County High School and Northview Academy.
Gaye Jolly
TOC will provide an on-site physician at every home football game as well as access to their after-hours clinic at LeConte Medical Center for care. TOC will coordinate with the Covenant Health’s athletic trainers under the supervision of program medical directors Michael Casey, MD, and Chase Wilson, MD.
“We are excited to serve as the official orthopedic physician partner for Sevier County Schools,” said Dr. Casey, orthopedic surgeon and TOC board president. “This collaborative effort between TOC and Covenant Health will offer complete sports medicine care to the Sevier County community. Specifically, we would like to thank the Board of Education for working with our team in developing this program to support student athletes.”
The newly signed agreement continues an ongoing partnership between Sevier County Schools and Sevierville-based LeConte Medical Center, a Covenant Health hospital. LeConte Medical Center has provided athletic trainers for all sports at Sevier County high schools since 2001.
“I am proud of LeConte Medical Center’s ongoing legacy of providing excellent care to our local student athletes,” said Gaye Jolly, chief administrative officer of LeConte Medical Center. “We want to continue being the first and best choice for Sevier County student athletes and their families.”
As part of their commitment to provide the best care to student athletes, Covenant Health and TOC will offer the only FDA-approved concussion testing program to every Sevier County student athlete, a first for the athletic training program. The concussion test is performed pre-season and then is used to assess the extent of injury if a student suffers a concussion.
As a new addition to the agreement, Covenant Health also will provide athletic trainer coverage to middle school football players during the fall season.
The goal of Covenant Health’s sports medicine program is to minimize the risk of injury that can occur during play. Since the program’s inception, the re-injury rate for student athletes has dropped from 25 percent (a one-in-four chance that an injured student would suffer another injury) to less than one percent.
Learn more about the sports medicine program here.
Information provided by the public relations department of Covenant Health.