Key points from today’s guests:

Dr. Sean Kumer, associate chief medical officer, The University of Kansas Health System

• One inch or one millisecond can prevent an athlete from qualifying for competitive games or even winning a gold medal.
• The right sports medicine can give those athletes that extra edge they need.
• The same sports medicine team that works with all athletes here in the region is also working with gold medal-winning athletes competing on world stages.
• It’s an honor that The University of Kansas Health System can be a member of that team who helps these athletes.

Dr. Vincent Key, orthopedic surgeon, The University of Kansas Health System

• Dr. Key has worked with Team USA as an associate team physician for USA Track and Field.
• Both of these athletes – Erik and Shawn – are amazing athletes and people. And they’ve put in so much work to get to where they are today.
• Recovery for athletes is a little different because they have a mindset of “go, go, go!,” but it is not a light switch, it is a dimmer. You have to slowly bounce back and let your body adapt.
• When developing an individual recovery plan, you have to look at the functionality of the athlete and the results of scans and the athlete’s feedback to put all those things together and then come up with a game plan.
• It's been an absolute blessing to be able to take care of these athletes and representing your country is truly a special honor.

Erik Kynard, 2012 Olympic gold medalist, high jump

• After a torn Achilles injury in 2018, the recovery was quite long and arduous, but he said it helped to have Dr. Key in his back pocket so he could return to the sport.
• He had been working with Dr. Key for a long part of his competitive career.
• Erik knew that this injury would not be the end of his career and put in the work to get back to the track.
• After-recovery mentality is extremely important.

Shawn Morelli, 3-time Paralympic gold medalist, cycling

• She was previously more of a soccer player and runner, but had to find another sport due to an injury and decided to look at cycling.
• To prepare for the cycling event, Shawn worked to get her weight down with different eating and exercise habits.
• Having a sports medicine team behind her and a game plan was essential to a gold medal-winning performance.
• Now in Paris, Shawn is focused on mental and physical training goals for the upcoming competition.

Amber Pettis, Transplant Games competitor, Team MO-KAN

• Amber received a new kidney nine years ago and she competes in cycling and track and field events.
• She has won at least 16 gold medals (she said she stopped counting).
• Amber said as long as she has a healthy, viable transplant, she’ll be at the Games competing to show the world that organ donation is doing good things for people.

Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director, Infection Prevention & Control, The University of Kansas Health System

• We know from wastewater testing that overall COVID virus levels are increasing from where they were four weeks ago. Those rates are much less than they were in 2021 and 2022.
• There still is not a full seasonality to this virus like or RSV or influenza, but right now it's looking like maybe there are two peaks during the year -- in the late summer and of course in the winter. Overall, we know that this virus does circulate consistently throughout the year.
• We have reached a good level of population immunity, so people have been vaccinated and re-vaccinated. They have been infected and re-infected. And all of that lends to developing individual immunity to help prevent protect against severe disease and hospitalization.
• There are populations that we need to be sensitive about that are more likely or at higher risk. Those populations are the ones that are coming to the hospital or unfortunately, still dying from COVID.

Thursday, July 11 at 8 a.m. is the next All Things Heart. You’ll meet a woman whose health was deteriorating…and her doctors couldn’t figure out why. When she came to The University of Kansas Health System, she discovered a shocking condition she was born with. See how doctors solved the problem.

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