University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville Athletics and Mission Health: A championship-winning partnership
05.11.2022 | Athletics News
Story written by Bob Rose
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Teamwork is certainly not a foreign concept in college athletics. Without it, sports teams cannot be successful.
Student-athletes must work together to build a winning team. Head coaches need teamwork within their coaching staff. And athletic directors must ask for that same team spirit from their administrative personnel.
At UNC Asheville, teamwork also has entered the medical realm. Beginning in 2017, Bulldog Athletic Director Janet R. Cone entered into a partnership with Mission Sports Medicine, a specialty division of HCA Healthcare and Mission Hospital in Asheville.
It's been paying huge dividends ever since.        Â
"We've always had a relationship with Mission Hospital ever since I arrived here (2004)," said Cone. "As the years went by, there was more emphasis placed on sports medicine. We were looking to improve our sports medicine program and came to the conclusion that getting together with Mission Sports Medicine would provide a higher level of service and resources for our student-athletes. It's been a real win-win for us ever since."
The decision to collaborate with Mission Sports Medicine was made even easier when HCA Healthcare targeted two long-time collegiate athletic trainers to head up its sports division. Shelli Landis-Puckett was hired as manager after serving 15 years as director of sports medicine at Indiana State University, while Michael Hodges was named regional supervisor under Landis-Puckett after a 12-year stint as athletic trainer at nearby Mars Hill University.
For HCA Healthcare, which operates in 19 states across the country, the relationship with UNC Asheville was a natural progression in the corporation's community outreach initiative through sports. Besides UNC Asheville athletics, Mission Sports Medicine boasts partnerships with two professional teams–the minor league baseball Asheville Tourists and Asheville City Soccer Club–six local high schools (including Asheville High) and three middle schools.
"HCA Healthcare has allowed us to work with the very best physicians in Western North Carolina in terms of sports injury specialists," said Landis-Puckett. "For UNC Asheville, we can provide professional services and resources they would not get without our partnership. Beyond diagnosing injuries and supervising rehab procedures, Mission Sports Medicine can offer expertise in many other areas such as mental health, nutrition, preventative health and strength and conditioning."
Yet, it was an unexpected pandemic that truly demonstrated the value of Mission Sports Medicine for Cone and the Bulldogs athletic program. COVID-19 hit in 2019 with a vengeance and sent the world reeling, necessitating wholesale changes to daily procedures for universities such as UNC Asheville. Mission Sports Medicine was on the cutting edge of best practices as its parent company, Mission Hospital, suddenly found itself on the front lines of a public health crisis.
Tim White, the school's head athletic trainer, still marvels about the rapid response he and his three full-time staff received from their new partner.
"Mission Sports Medicine was amazing," he said. "They showed such versatility and flexibility in increasing our footprint coverage. They brought professionals on campus and helped with testing and preventative procedures, which was just invaluable."
Under a new sports medicine model, White and his trainers have become employees of HCA Healthcare–similar to the partnership UNC Asheville Athletics has with Learfield IMG College marketing for sponsorships and advertising sales––but with their offices remaining on campus.Â
Beyond ensuring good lines of communication, the new reporting structure better aligned the Bulldogs with recent NCAA guidelines that encourage "unchallengeable medical authority" for college athletic trainers. In other words, White and his assistants now operate independently with every decision made solely on behalf of each student-athlete's welfare.Â
"From the very beginning, Janet Cone supported the new model," said Landis-Puckett. "The staff she has is amazing. We've been able to give them this new level of care as a third party and help place the athletes first. We are their advocates in everything we do."
Thanks to the veteran leadership of former college trainers Landis-Puckett and Hodges, Mission Sports Medicine also has kept the bureaucracy to a minimum despite a more corporate structure. White and his UNC Asheville staff have enjoyed great autonomy in their on-campus operation.
"We have regular meetings at Mission Hospital, which is to be expected," said White. "They let us do our jobs. It's benefitted us greatly in growing as professionals and also helped us connect better with the Asheville community."
The Bulldogs' trainer said Mission Sports Medicine has given him and his staff opportunities to support local high schools with mass physical screenings, community events such as amateur lacrosse tournaments, and assist at times with the professional Asheville City Soccer Club.
Yet, the greatest advantage for the UNC Asheville trainers has been the reciprocal support the school receives from other HCA Healthcare/Mission Sports Medicine personnel.
"We really support each other," adds White. "If there's a family emergency or we're just short-handed, Mission Sports Medicine can provide help by providing athletic trainers from other colleges, high schools or even middle schools."
White said that more and more universities are going to the same kind of medical partnerships, with trainers being hired by hospitals or medical centers. He noted that nearby schools such as Furman University and South Carolina Upstate are part of this trend.
"Colleges are seeing the advantages," he said. "It just gives us more resources, particularly in delicate areas like cardiac issues. It also gives us better access to physicians and the ability to schedule appointments in a more timely way. It's also helped all of us improve our clinical skills."
Also, in most cases, it brings more medical professionals on campus more often, making it much more convenient and efficient for Bulldog student-athletes and trainers.Â
He cites that Mission Sports Medicine provides Eric Lahue, a physical therapist, for visits on campus twice a week. Lahue particularly focuses on complicated rehabs such as knee surgeries or concussions, providing invaluable hands-on service.
"We want to empower Tim and his amazing staff," said Landis-Puckett. "We want to give them supplies and allow them to operate at the top scope of their practice as certified athletic trainers. Our partnership with UNC Asheville is a natural progression for Mission's vision of becoming an integral part of the Asheville community. We're very proud of what we have accomplished."
It's a shared pride, as the Bulldogs' athletic director beams when speaking of the department's medical partner.
"I can't say enough good things about Mission Sports Medicine," said Cone.
Beyond their medical expertise, it really helps that they have previous college training experience. They understand the long hours our coaches and trainers work, and the college sports culture in general.
"For a small University, we have a team of experts. We could not do this by ourselves. The ultimate goal is to provide the very best services for our student-athletes. The Mission folks are part of our team."
The "team" and the partnership figure to grow in the years ahead, as there's 2022 plans for a fifth full-time trainer to be added to the UNC Asheville staff and a contract extension for this very special relationship–a relationship where teamwork makes everybody a winner.
