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Husky Stadium's Sports Medicine Center Treats Everyone Too

The UW Medicine Sports Medicine Center under Seattle's Husky Stadium treats the Huskies, and the general public can get an appointment there too.

<h2>The Same Doctors Who Treat the Huskies See Anyone</h2> <p>Dr. Kimberly Harmon has been the University of Washington football team&#x27;s head physician since 1998, treating the athletes who fill Husky Stadium every fall Saturday. Her average patient is not a linebacker. &quot;The average age of my patient is actually 49,&quot; she told KOMO News. &quot;What we try to do is get them back to what they like to do, whether that&#x27;s golf or tennis or horseback riding.&quot; Harmon works out of the UW Medicine Sports Medicine Center, a 30,000-square-foot clinic at the south end of Husky Stadium, 3800 Montlake Blvd NE. Her patient list backs up a claim the center makes on its own team-care page: the public gets the same expert care the athletes do.</p> <h2>From Scattered Clinics to One Room at Husky Stadium</h2> <p>That single address is recent. Before 2013, UW Medicine&#x27;s sports medicine clinic sat beside Edmundson Pavilion, one stop in a practice that Dr. Stanley Herring, medical director of UW Medicine Sports, Spine and Orthopaedic Health, said was practiced piecemeal across UW Medicine&#x27;s buildings. Bringing it into one coordinated, one-stop location, he said, was too good an opportunity to pass up. Construction on the Husky Stadium south-end project began in late 2010, and when the space was finally ready, the whole practice moved in three days. The center opened to the public that September, with a ribbon cutting on September 9, 2013.</p> <h2>A Roster That Covers More Than Football</h2> <p>The physicians there are not just football. Dr. John O&#x27;Kane has been head team physician since 1996. Dr. Jonathan Drezner directs UW&#x27;s Center for Sports Cardiology and covers men&#x27;s basketball and track. Dr. Ashwin Rao covers baseball and crew. Dr. Hank Pelto covers men&#x27;s soccer and women&#x27;s basketball. Between them, the center covers Husky programs most Seattle fans would not think to name: women&#x27;s soccer, gymnastics, volleyball, softball, tennis, golf, cross country, swimming, crew.</p> <h2>Open to Hikers, Gardeners and Weekend Golfers</h2> <p>Dr. Mark Harrast, the center&#x27;s medical director when it opened, put the invitation plainly: &quot;Anyone with activity-related pain, be it from hiking, gardening, golf, or running a marathon, is welcome to see us.&quot; That is not marketing gloss. It shows up in Harmon&#x27;s own patient list, where the goal is rarely a return to the field and usually a return to the driving range or the trail. The center&#x27;s own team-care page describes its patients today in the same terms: the weekend basketball player, the recreational skier, the professional athlete on the roster next door, all listed side by side.</p> <h2>Booking Means a Phone Call, Not a Walk-In</h2> <p>New patients cannot book online. UW Medicine requires a call to 206-598-3294, option 8, to get on the schedule, and MyChart self-scheduling only opens up for returning patients seen there within the last three years. It is a phone line, not an open door, but anyone can dial it, whether the caller played linebacker for the Huskies or tweaked a knee on a Saturday hike. The same practice also runs clinics in Ballard and at the Northwest Outpatient Medical Center, but the flagship stays under the stadium, in the building the football team and the general public share. That same number rings whether the caller wants a second opinion on a sore shoulder or a first appointment.</p> <h2>One Building, One Standard of Care</h2> <p>Nobody calling that number gets sorted into a lesser waiting room. They get an appointment with physicians whose other patients might be starting on Saturday, and the same standard of care. Harmon did not build her patient list around chasing a September opener. She built it, one 49-year-old at a time, around whoever calls the number the team does. The room under the stadium was built for the Huskies, but the phone line into it takes any caller who dials.</p>

The Same Doctors Who Treat the Huskies See Anyone

Dr. Kimberly Harmon has been the University of Washington football team's head physician since 1998, treating the athletes who fill Husky Stadium every fall Saturday. Her average patient is not a linebacker. "The average age of my patient is actually 49," she told KOMO News. "What we try to do is get them back to what they like to do, whether that's golf or tennis or horseback riding." Harmon works out of the UW Medicine Sports Medicine Center, a 30,000-square-foot clinic at the south end of Husky Stadium, 3800 Montlake Blvd NE. Her patient list backs up a claim the center makes on its own team-care page: the public gets the same expert care the athletes do.

From Scattered Clinics to One Room at Husky Stadium

That single address is recent. Before 2013, UW Medicine's sports medicine clinic sat beside Edmundson Pavilion, one stop in a practice that Dr. Stanley Herring, medical director of UW Medicine Sports, Spine and Orthopaedic Health, said was practiced piecemeal across UW Medicine's buildings. Bringing it into one coordinated, one-stop location, he said, was too good an opportunity to pass up. Construction on the Husky Stadium south-end project began in late 2010, and when the space was finally ready, the whole practice moved in three days. The center opened to the public that September, with a ribbon cutting on September 9, 2013.

A Roster That Covers More Than Football

The physicians there are not just football. Dr. John O'Kane has been head team physician since 1996. Dr. Jonathan Drezner directs UW's Center for Sports Cardiology and covers men's basketball and track. Dr. Ashwin Rao covers baseball and crew. Dr. Hank Pelto covers men's soccer and women's basketball. Between them, the center covers Husky programs most Seattle fans would not think to name: women's soccer, gymnastics, volleyball, softball, tennis, golf, cross country, swimming, crew.

Open to Hikers, Gardeners and Weekend Golfers

Dr. Mark Harrast, the center's medical director when it opened, put the invitation plainly: "Anyone with activity-related pain, be it from hiking, gardening, golf, or running a marathon, is welcome to see us." That is not marketing gloss. It shows up in Harmon's own patient list, where the goal is rarely a return to the field and usually a return to the driving range or the trail. The center's own team-care page describes its patients today in the same terms: the weekend basketball player, the recreational skier, the professional athlete on the roster next door, all listed side by side.

Booking Means a Phone Call, Not a Walk-In

New patients cannot book online. UW Medicine requires a call to 206-598-3294, option 8, to get on the schedule, and MyChart self-scheduling only opens up for returning patients seen there within the last three years. It is a phone line, not an open door, but anyone can dial it, whether the caller played linebacker for the Huskies or tweaked a knee on a Saturday hike. The same practice also runs clinics in Ballard and at the Northwest Outpatient Medical Center, but the flagship stays under the stadium, in the building the football team and the general public share. That same number rings whether the caller wants a second opinion on a sore shoulder or a first appointment.

One Building, One Standard of Care

Nobody calling that number gets sorted into a lesser waiting room. They get an appointment with physicians whose other patients might be starting on Saturday, and the same standard of care. Harmon did not build her patient list around chasing a September opener. She built it, one 49-year-old at a time, around whoever calls the number the team does. The room under the stadium was built for the Huskies, but the phone line into it takes any caller who dials.

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