Athletic health care is pretty special in Blount County. You won’t find the depth and breadth of services we have here in many places across the country. You will find the quality of services found here in even fewer places.
Peggy Bratt is a familiar and beloved figure in our
community’s athletic community. The Head Athletic Trainer at Alcoa High School,
next week Peggy will be inducted into the Southeast Athletic Trainers
Association Hall of Fame.
She is also Sports Medicine Director for Total
Rehabilitation at Blount Memorial Hospital and sees patients and athletes at
Total Rehabilitation’s Cherokee clinic. Peggy
is an important part of the incredible success Alcoa High has enjoyed.
Four months ago, Dr. Kyle Boden joined Knoxville Orthopedic
Clinic-Maryville (formerly known as OrthoTennessee-Maryville and before that as
Maryville Orthopedic Clinic). Dr. Boden
is a Knoxville native, graduating from Karns High School where he played
quarterback on the football team.
He then went to Emory & Henry College where he also
starred at quarterback. Medical school was at ETSU’s Quillen College of
Medicine and then orthopedic residency at the University of Kentucky, where he
worked with the athletic teams. He then
did a sports medicine fellowship at Case Western University where his
responsibilities included working with the Cleveland Browns of the NFL.
Soon after arriving here, he became team physician at Alcoa
High School, where he joined them on their path to a 10th straight
3A state football championship. He is
also available to athletes of all ages and at all our schools.
Dr. Boden is a Sports Orthopedist. That’s an orthopedic surgeon that has
specialized in sports medicine. Not everything he does is surgery—most of what
he does is take care of athletes with orthopedic injuries that don’t need
surgery, but which need the services of an orthopedic specialist. Very few communities our size have a Sports
Orthopedist serving them.
Dr. Ben England arrived just four and a half years ago, but
it seems like he has been here forever. Dr.
England is a graduate of William Blount High School, where he wrestled and
played soccer. After receiving an
undergraduate degree in biochemistry at UT he then attended ETSU’s Quillen
College of Medicine. After primary care
residency and sports fellowship at UT, he returned to the tri-cities area where
he served as the Head Team Physician at ETSU and as team physician for
Elizabethton High School for the next ten years.
To our good fortune, he decided to come home, joining the
staff of Blount Memorial Physicians Group and establishing his medical practice
at East Tennessee Medical Group. You can
always find him on the sidelines of a high school football game on Friday night. He also serves as a Team Physician for
Maryville College.
What isn’t always apparent is that we are all part of a
sports medicine team. Just like the athletes we serve, our team is only as
strong as its members. And our team is
really strong.
What most people don’t realize is just how extensive the
athletic health care coverage is in our community. Total Rehabilitation provides athletic
trainers at Alcoa High, Apostolic Christian Academy, Clayton-Bradley Academy,
Eagleton College & Career Academy, Greenback School, Heritage High,
Maryville Christian School, Maryville High, Samuel Everett School of
Innovation, Sequoyah High, and William Blount High. Total Rehabilitation
athletic trainers can also be found at many middle school/junior high events,
multi-school events, and community events like the Reindeer Run. Whew!!!
Total Rehabilitation at Cherokee opens their doors at 7 AM
each weekday morning so that local athletes can see an athletic trainer. This gets them seen in a timely fashion,
which means that they get back on the playing field as soon as it is safe and
appropriate
Dr. England and the physicians at Knoxville Orthopedic
Clinic-Maryville (it’s going to take a while before that rolls off the tongue)
also come in early each morning to see athletes that Total Rehabilitation
athletic trainers send them.
All in all, it’s amazing what we have around here. Our community is truly blessed.
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