If it鈥檚 Friday night and football season, you鈥檒l find , at a high school football game. He鈥檒l be on the sidelines, pacing alongside the coaches and trainers.
A physician with Rush Copley Medical Group specializing in family and sports medicine, Patel volunteers as team physician for several area high schools.
Patel attends all home football games and serves as a resource for team trainers when injuries occur on the field. Some nights, he can enjoy watching the game. Other nights, he is kept busy running onto the field or on the sideline, assessing and caring for injured players.
A passion to help
鈥淚 started off volunteering because of my passion to help,鈥 Patel says. 鈥淢y favorite thing about volunteering is being able to help in an urgent moment of need.鈥 Team trainers look to Patel鈥檚 expertise in determining whether it鈥檚 safefor a player to keep playing or if they need to sit out.
鈥淭hey need a quick answer,鈥 Patel says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 rewarding to help with that.鈥
He also enjoys forming relationships with the players, as they get to know him and become comfortable around him.
鈥淚f they need something, they know they can ask me for help. It鈥檚 a nice feeling,鈥 he says.
Some of the players have been his patients since they were small children. Now that they鈥檙e playing high school football, he enjoys celebrating with them and says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 an honor to be part of that.鈥
Lending his expertise
As team physician for multiple schools, Patel sometimes gets overbooked with multiple games scheduled on the same night. When that happens, other providers from his medical group help out.
Family medicine residents sometimes accompany Patel to the games for the learning opportunity and are surprised to learn that he doesn鈥檛 get paid for his role as team physician. He says that volunteering is great for relationship building and that it鈥檚 important to support something in the community.
In addition to volunteering at football games, Patel volunteers in a less visible role as a concussion consultant for several more area schools, working on policy committees to develop concussion protocols. He has expertise in concussion care, stays current on the latest literature and science by publishing articles and books and is often invited to speak, teach and lecture to other physicians. This keeps him on the cutting edge of the latest and most effective treatments for patients.
鈥淚t allows me to continue to hone my skills to become a better physician and provide better care,鈥 he says.
A sense of community
But it鈥檚 his role volunteering at the football games that gives Patel a strong sense of community.
鈥淪ports have become very important in this region,鈥 he notes. 鈥淔ootball has become a social integrating event for a lot of the community.鈥
His patients are excited to see him on the sidelines supporting their team. In fact, he spends most of his pregame time greeting people in the stands.
鈥淭he athletes see me, the parents see me 鈥 they see that I鈥檓 involved, and I become part of the team as well,鈥 he says. 鈥淭hey appreciate that I鈥檓 there to help out. They are excited to see that their doctor supports their team.鈥
