FAIRFIELD, Conn.—Sacred Heart University is arranging for Orthopaedic Specialty Group (OSG), Inc., to oversee the University’s daily health services needs on and off campus and during athletic events and activities.
Physicians and medical professionals from OSG are now serving as team physicians and medical aides for varsity sports activities for at least the next three years. Once the official partnership begins, OSG personnel will operate SHU’s student health services facility and oversee all student health needs except behavioral health.
Orthopaedic Specialty Group is the largest practice of its type in Southern Connecticut, with six locations in the greater Fairfield area. Treatment areas include advanced surgical and nonsurgical techniques, pain management, rehabilitation and neurosurgery. Incorporated in 1971, OSG employs 225 physicians and medical support staff, whom students will be able to see for care in OSG’s offices, as well as on campus. The staff also provides team medical services to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and Fairfield University. Sports medicine team doctors include Dante Brittis, Patrick Kwok and Lauren Fabian. The new health center doctor is Betsy Clachko.
Medical services for student-athletes will involve overseeing their care for home football, men’s ice hockey, women’s rugby, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s lacrosse and wrestling contests. That includes coverage for SHU-hosted conference championship matches, games and events. The OSG staff also will provide onsite sports medicine and chiropractic coverage. In addition, they will lend their expertise to mitigate injuries as much as possible and to help guide recoveries.
OSG will assume responsibility for meeting clinical health care needs for students on SHU’s two main campuses in Fairfield, maintaining existing proprietary health care records and performing all required physical health care services. Support will be provided during standard operating hours, with on-call coverage after hours.
“This is an important and progressive step in ensuring we continue meeting the comprehensive health care needs of our students on and off campus,” said James Barquinero, senior vice president of Enrollment, Student Affairs & Athletics. “Coordinating our student health care needs with the experienced and highly regarded OSG team across a wide variety of medical and training health disciplines offers SHU and our students increased convenience, consistency and superior medical quality, while affording the University enhanced cost-management opportunities.”
“We are excited to be teaming up with the physicians from OSG to continue providing excellent care for our 850 student-athletes at Sacred Heart University,” said Leonidas G. Katsetos, senior associate athletic director for athletic training. “In our role as athletic trainers, we work closely with our team physicians, and this partnership allows us to continue providing top-notch care for our student-athletes.”
The transition to OSG, which began a few months ago for the athletic training department aims to be seamless, according to Steven P. Fiore, OSG’s chief executive officer. He added that, in addition to providing health care OSG will assist with educational opportunities for students studying to become physician assistants (PAs), physical therapists (PTs) and advanced-practice nurses (APRNs). Discussions are underway for student health services coverage under the guidance of an OSG medical director.
“Our goal is working collaboratively with SHU to expand access to a more robust spectrum of student health resources,” said Fiore. “Orthopaedic Specialty Group can offer a wide variety of services and advanced medical technology, essentially all ‘under one roof.’ In addition to our commitment to provide excellent care, guidance, skilled referrals and hands-on medical services, this also is a great opportunity for OSG to give back to the University by hosting PA student rotations, and assisting PT and APRN students on training protocols, exposing them to the real health care challenges they’ll face when they graduate. We’re also delighted to be working with the talented SHU health staff and athletic training department in every medical capacity, and confident our combined services will greatly enhance student medical care across the board.”
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Sacred Heart University, the second-largest independent Catholic university in New England, offers more than 70 undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate programs on its main campus in Fairfield, Conn., and satellites in Connecticut, Luxembourg and Ireland. More than 8,500 students attend the University’s five colleges: Arts & Sciences; Health Professions; Nursing; the Jack Welch College of Business; and the Isabelle Farrington College of Education. The Princeton Review includes SHU in its guides, Best 382 Colleges–2018 Edition, “Best in the Northeast” and Best 267 Business Schools–2018 Edition. It also placed SHU on its lists for “Best College Theater” and “Most Engaged in Community Service,” each of which comprises only 20 U.S. schools. U.S.News & World Report ranks SHU in its Best Colleges 2018 guidebook and calls SHU the fourth “Most Innovative School” in the North. The Chronicle of Higher Education also names SHU one of the fastest-growing Roman Catholic universities in its 2016 almanac. Sacred Heart fields 32 Division I athletic teams and has an award-winning program of community service. www.sacredheart.edu
For additional Sacred Heart University news, please visit http://www.sacredheart.edu/aboutshu/news/.