Linfield University took the wraps off a special addition to the sports medicine program created specifically to benefit current student-athletes.
 
Expanding on an already established sponsorship with Linfield Athletics, the Willamette Valley Medical Center provided funding needed for the purchase of a SidelinER privacy tent. Athletic trainers will now be able to discretely evaluate injuries to student-athletes in close proximity to the sidelines of athletic events.
 
Co-branded by Willamette Valley Medical Center and Wildcat Athletics, the SidelinER privacy tent is 12 feet long and 5 feet wide. The customized tent is expected to serve a variety of outdoor sports programs, namely football, soccer, lacrosse and track and field, though additional uses are certainly possible.
 
The tent was dedicated Friday to Dr. Derek Rains in appreciation of his ongoing volunteer medical support of Linfield student-athletes for the past decade.
 
"Dr. Rains works tirelessly behind the scenes to keep our student-athletes healthy," said head certified athletic trainer Duane Duey, addressing the gathered audience of student-athletes and coaches. "Though he is most visible at football games, Dr. Rains serves all of our athletes. Linfield is very fortunate to have a doctor of his caliber working directly with Athletics."
 
In recent years, privacy tents have become common in the National Football League and at the major-college level, though few small colleges and universities the size of Linfield have been in position to make such an investment. With Friday's unveiling, Linfield becomes the first athletic department in the Northwest Conference and the first known NCAA Division III program to add such a "big time" device to its sports medicine program.
 
Willamette Valley Medical Center's contribution to Linfield is part of a larger three-year agreement that includes a $10,000 annual gift for enrichment at the Linfield School of Nursing, providing additional offerings for students enrolled in Linfield's nursing degree programs in Portland.
 
"Willamette Valley Medical Center has been in the community for about 120 years," said Michael Mulkey, chief executive officer at WVMC. "Our mission at the hospital is we want to create community based health care."
 
Mulkey praised the in-kind contributions of Dr. Rains, calling him "A champion of patient care. The testament that he volunteers his time to serve the athletics programs at Linfield truly shows the ways he is willing to put himself forward to build a better community. And that's what we're all about here today."
 
The tent's pop-up design was developed by the athletic training staff at the University of Alabama. It provides a fully enclosed space for certified athletic trainers and the team physician to evaluate injuries on the fly while still remaining in close proximity to the athletic event in progress.
 
When needed suddenly, the privacy tent can be raised from a collapsed position in mere seconds, enabling the staff to perform injury triage away from the view of spectators and cameras and protected from wet weather.