Lemak Sports Medicine and Shelby County schools are partnering to offer students the opportunity to participate in a sports medicine curriculum as part of the school system’s career-technical education.
Lawrence Lemak, MD, founder of Lemak Sports Medicine, says he was approached by Superintendent Randy Fuller a few years ago about developing a more innovative way to do career pathways. “There is already a curriculum for career pathways in the state school system, but he wanted to do something unique,” Lemak says. “Superintendent Fuller is a forward-thinking educator and is always looking for ways to further the education of students in Shelby County.”
Lemak says that this curriculum can help students learn whether they want to pursue a career in sports medicine. “And just as important, they can also discover if it is the wrong career for them,” he says.
The program will roll out at Helena High School this fall and will expand to other Shelby County schools later. The sports medicine career pathway program will involve physicians from Lemak Sports Medicine. “We have 12 to 13 physicians in our practice, many of whom already participate in sports at these schools,” Lemak says. “Most of them are in the traditional role of team physician covering games in various sports, but in this program, they will be active in many ways.”
The curriculum is sports medicine based and students will do an internship where they can participate in the care of the athletes, along with an athletic trainer. “Our physicians will be educators, co-chairing the program with the schools,” Lemak says. “We will have a committee comprised of not only physicians and school administrators, but also faculty and parents who will help us determine the best way to introduce the health care industry to students.”
With input from all stakeholders, Lemak expects this career pathway program to evolve over time. “We will continually talk to our stakeholders and reevaluate the program to make sure we are progressing in a positive way,” he says. “This is a unique program and we want to present it in the best way possible.”
Lemak says they eventually plan to expand the program to schools outside of Shelby County. “We have spent a lot of time developing this program, and we want to share it with as many people as possible,” he says. “We want to take the model to all of the schools we are involved with because I believe we can develop better relationships from within the schools than we can in the traditional way where we just stand on the sideline at games.”
Making safety front and center every day is what Lemak strives for. “Participating in this program brings my career full circle. I’m at the giving-back stage. I’ve practiced medicine for years, and it’s nice to be at the stage where I can teach people about the sports medicine track to take care of the athlete,” he says. “As an advocate for the health and safety of athletes, I want to make sure that we continue to focus on that and encourage others to do the same. I think that’s the future of sports.”