Capital Medical Center

Capital Medical Center teamed up with local physicians, TOPS (Team of Providers for Students) to provide 407 free comprehensive sports physicals to students of Capital and Olympia High Schools. The sports physical clinic, which was held Saturday, June 5, 2010, was open to incoming freshman through seniors who attend Capital and Olympia High Schools. In its third year, the sports physical clinic has tripled in the number of physicals provided with over 100 the first year to over 300 last year. The comprehensive physicals allow physicians who specialized in heart, lung, orthopedic, skin, and abdomen to do thorough examinations in their respective fields. In addition, each student received an EKG that was read by a cardiologist to ensure no heart abnormalities exist prior to pariticipating in a sport activity. This year we added ImPACT™, a baseline concussion assessment. ImPACT™ testing is a computer administered test which includes measurement of attention, memory, processing speed, and reaction time. This program is used as a tool to assess and manage concussions and determine return-to-play status. The final stage of the physical process included each student sitting down with a primary care physician who performed a final evaluation of all the testing and cleared the student to participate in athletics. For many students, a free screening of this proportion would not have been an option because of the cost involved. Dr. Jon Peterson of South Sound Family Medicine and Event Chairman, commented, “The pre-participation examination is

an important step in attempting to identify medical conditions that would either contraindicate or impair a student athlete’s ability to participate in athletics. This is also a great opportunity for local physicians to give back to the community in a way that everyone benefits. We are excited to see the number of participants increase each year and look forward to providing sports physicals this time next year on June 4, 2011.”