- May 2, 2024
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For the third year in a row, AdventHealth is providing free pre-participation sports physicals at one site in Flagler County.
The physicals will be provided at 5-9 p.m. May 15 and May 16 at Flagler Palm Coast High School’s gym for student athletes in grades 6-12 as well as JROTC cadets, fire academy students and band members in all schools in the Flagler County School District.
Students are asked to register at FSSportsPhysicals.com. A link to required paperwork can be found within the registration process and within the confirmation email.
Walk-ins will be allowed based on availability but advance registration is requested to maintain a proper flow during the event.
“We are currently screening 20 students every 10 minutes,” said Erik Nason, AdventHealth East Florida Division’s senior manager of sports medicine for partnerships.
There will be four stations with professional health care providers who are specialized in their assigned screening areas: vitals, musculoskeletal screenings, medical screenings and electrocardiograms (ECGs).
“This event is not just a partnership (between Flagler Schools and AdventHealth), but an experience that our AdventHealth team members are passionate about,” Nason said. “Last year we served 476 student athletes during our sports physical event, which is about 43% of Flagler Schools student athletes. Of those 476 students, 130, or 27% in attendance, stated that they do not have a primary care physician. This means that this physical event may be the first time in a year that these students saw a professional health care provider. These pre-participation sports physicals are not just a time to check a box for the sports season, but it’s to provide an inclusive, high quality screening of the health and well-being of (the) student athletes. Our hope is that these screenings will decrease the risk of significant injury or illness due to an underlying condition that typically could be missed.”
There are 720 slots open for registration. AdventHealth’s goal is to increase attendance to at least 660 students athletes, which would be about 60% of student athletes in grades 6-12, Nason said.
The free ECG screenings are not required for participation by Flagler Schools at this time but are highly recommended. Separate registration is not needed.
AdventHealth provided ECG screenings to over 1,400 Volusia and Flagler county students last year with 38 showing cautionary signs of abnormal heart rhythm and five determined to be high risk. One of the high-risk students, Seabreeze High School athlete Brogan Kelly, underwent open heart surgery in June.
“When the surgeon said our son’s condition could result in sudden death, the thought was unimaginable,” Barbara Kelly said in an AdventHealth press release. “Our son seemed to be so healthy. We were in shock.”
Brogan Kelly was cleared to wrestle six months later. He is now gearing up for spring football season.
“It’s so nice not to have to worry about my heart anymore,” he said. “I think it’s important that all student athletes get a heart screening in addition to the physical, because you don’t really know what condition your heart is in. And, in the end, it could save your life.”
