Meadville Medical Center now is providing athletic training services to Allegheny College athletics beginning with the onset of the college’s fall sports practices.
The move follows Meadville Medical Center (MMC) taking over operations in 2021 of Allegheny College’s Winslow Health Center for the students’ general health needs.
MMC Sports Medicine at Allegheny College is led by Dr. Christopher Rial, team physician, and Michael D. Carr, a certified and licensed athletic trainer and licensed physical therapist who is director of MMC’s Sports Medicine. The program is staffed with a team of athletic trainers.
“I want to bring the same high quality care and approach to the student athletes of Allegheny that have been so successful in our local high schools over the past 20 plus years,” Carr said.
Allegheny College currently has approximately 500 student athletes participating in 23 collegiate sports in the President’s Athletic Conference and North Coast Athletic Conference.
Bill Ross, Allegheny’s director of athletics, said the college is excited to team up with MMC Sports Medicine.
“The health and well-being of our student athletes is our number one priority,” Ross said. “Through the resources and expertise that MMC Sports Medicine offers, we have elevated that commitment.”
Allegheny College joins the Commodore Perry, Conneaut, Cranberry, Crawford Central, Jamestown, PENNCREST and Valley Grove school districts in using Meadville Medical Center for their respective sports medicine needs.
MMC started providing outreach athletic training services to local high schools in the 1998-99 school year under the direction of Dr. Vincent Paczkoskie and Carr.
Paczkoskie is a dual board certified and fellowship trained sports medicine and upper extremity physician at Orthopedic Associates of Meadville who joined the program in 2000.
“The sports medicine program at MMC could initially be found in the basement of the Liberty Street facility,” Paczkoskie said. “Today, we have a comprehensive team of board certified and fellowship trained orthopedic surgeons, athletic trainers, physical therapists, imaging services, and a state-of-the-art training facility to assist with recovery and rehabilitation.”
MMC Sports Medicine athletic trainers work with orthopedists, primary care physicians, other physician specialties and neuropsychologists along with physical and occupational therapists, sports first aiders, coaches, athletic directors and principals.
The sports medicine system program includes education, prevention, management, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries, accidents and overuse conditions, according to Paczkoskie.
Another fellowship trained sports medicine physician, Dr. James Nemunaitus, will join Orthopedic Associates of Meadville later this month, Paczkoskie said.
