Orlando Health Gears Up To Care for UCF Athletes as Football Season Starts

One by one at the end of the summer, athletes from the University of Central Florida knock on Dr. Frederick Soliman’s door.

As the official medical provider for UCF Athletics, Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute physicians coordinate care for all student athletes. And every team on campus gets a date with Dr. Soliman, a primary care sports medicine physician, for a pre-season exam.

The centerpiece is football, the sport with the most athletes.

“For everybody involved, it’s a trust process,” Dr. Soliman says. “You tailor your communication, your skill set and your rapport. You have people with diverse backgrounds and diverse expectations, and yet you both want the same result — excellent health and excellence in competition.”

Care for Athletes Expands

For nearly four decades, Jewett physicians have taken care of UCF athletes. And since Orlando Health brought the orthopedic practice under its umbrella in 2020, the scope and level of care have only grown, including:

• Added Dr. Soliman, the athletic program’s first primary care physician
• Opened a next-level orthopedic clinic this past spring near UCF
• Hired two specialized radiologists to support UCF athletes
• Created a UCF athletics-specific phone line and alert system for care needed outside of normal business hours
• Expanded care for mental and emotional needs

Every year, we look at what can we do to elevate our support of this program. – Dr. Michael Jablonski, UCF’s official team doctor

“Every year, we look at what can we do to elevate our support of this program. Now that we have more resources, we were asking, ‘What can we do differently,’ ” says Dr. Michael V. Jablonski, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and UCF’s official team doctor. “We’re constantly looking for ways to improve the level of care and give UCF what it needs.”

Dr. Soliman’s hire was prompted by suggestions from UCF and Mary Vander Heiden, the school’s director of sports medicine. Having a UCF-linked primary care physician cuts down on appointment times and the speed at which the Knights’ training staff — and Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute’s various specialists — can start treatment.

Expanding mental health assistance also came as a response to UCF’s athletes.

“What’s nice to see is that this generation that’s coming forward, they’re much more likely to say, ‘Hey, I need some help,’ or, ‘I’m having problems,’ ” Dr. Jablonski says. “That’s a good thing for where our culture is headed.”

‘Specialist for Every Body Part’

UCF and Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute benefit from long-tested protocols for all manner of situations, from an acute on-field injury to a weekend head cold to COVID-19. The addition of Dr. Soliman to the practice gives UCF’s athletes access to round-the-clock care.

When an athlete gets hurt, whether in practice or during a match or game, the first person on scene is the team’s trainer. Communication flows from trainer to Dr. Soliman — or Dr. Jablonski — and then to coaches and anyone else on the sports medicine team who’s needed for surgery or recovery.

Dr. Soliman has his fingers on the pulse of every UCF athlete — plus coaches and support staff. Athletes have access to at least six orthopedic doctors at Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute’s new clinic and to 48 specialists overall.

“We have a specialist for every body part,” Dr. Jablonski says.

“It’s a great relationship,” says football coach Gus Malzahn, who was the head coach at Auburn and Arkansas State universities before coming to UCF ahead of the 2021 season. “With me being new last year and just getting familiar with everything, Dr. Jablonski and his crew, they’re so professional. They work so well with the university.”

More than most head coaches, Malzahn understands Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute’s care plans because of what he endured last season. During the first half of a Nov. 7 home win against Tulane, Malzahn was knocked over by a UCF defensive back, breaking the top of the coach’s right tibia.

Malzahn coached the rest of the season from a makeshift mini-tower/deer stand on UCF’s sideline.

“That was Coach Malzahn’s idea,” Dr. Jablonski says. “My suggestion was to put him in the coaches’ box upstairs, but he wouldn’t have it.”

Begrudgingly, Malzahn accepted the sideline tower. “I’m a pretty impatient guy,” he says. “They had to really challenge me – stay off of it, you’ve got to do things right.”

Making an Impact

A few months later, Malzahn got a more personal view of Orlando Health’s overall care when his wife, Kristi, was hospitalized at Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC) for three weeks because of a serious illness.

“I’m very, very grateful for the care she got at Orlando Health ORMC. I had a chance to know all about their care,” Malzahn says.

For professionals like Dr. Soliman, gratification comes when they see an injured athlete succeed again on the playing field. And sometimes it comes in other ways.

“I had an athlete who was having an underlying eating disorder,” Dr. Soliman says. “I pushed on them and educated them, and they pushed back. They probably didn’t like me very much. But two or three years later — a year ago — they sent me a message thanking me for what I did for them.

“When you hear that, and you see the impact you can make on someone, that’s always good to hear.”