Dr. Bote M.D. Board Certified Orthopaedic Surgeon at SportsMed Alaska in Kenai understands that being part of a community’s health care means providing volunteer services outside of the clinic. That’s why SportsMed Alaska manager Nissa Fowler and medical assistant’s Lucie Wood and Mary Castens were at the Peninsula Food Bank last Friday in the Fireweed kitchen preparing to serve 70 some folks a free healthy lunch. “We’ll be here one Friday every month to serve all those who come here for a meal,” Fowler told the Dispatch in an interview. “It’s always busy at the clinic, but we have a great staff and Mary and Lucie prepare ahead of their planned absence, dotting the I’s and crossing the t’s so that the office work goes ahead seamlessly without us. We want to see our patients get better and that means more than just seeing them after surgery or an injury but we want to help everyone be healthy and of course that starts with a healthy meal and we’re here chopping broccoli to help out,” she said.

Living in an active sports minded community comes with its risks of injuries as does life in general and when the pain occurs is when SportsMed Alaska is here in the local community to help. Dr. Bote is fellowship trained in Sports Medicine specializing in minimally invasive treatment for sports and other injuries, fractures, nerve compression and other discomforts. “Sports medicine is essentially a field where we diagnosis and treat ailments that are related to muscle and ligaments and all the bones of the body which are all interrelated and essentially we are going to take care of an individual who either has a specific injury during an activity such as hiking, kayaking, fishing or pain that they’ve had for extended period that bothers them at night interfering with their rest or bothers them with their daily activities like walking,” explained Dr. Bote. “Some people have the perception that you have to be a professional or competitive athlete to be treated by sports medicine, but we get a lot of weekend warriors and runners that participate in the many races held all over the Peninsula from the very young to the senior citizen maintaining an active lifestyle that results in pain. Our goal is to return you back to your active pain free lifestyle. The preference now is no matter your age you need to be exercising and data shows that as little as six months away from your exercise activity you actually start deteriorating. So we help you maintain that on a routine basis so you stay as healthy as possible,” he said. Dr. Bote and SportsMed Alaska has been on the Peninsula since 2014 and is now an in-network provider with most major insurances and has over 20 years’ experience diagnosing and treating orthopedic and sports-related injuries. “Summer is just a few months away and we want you back on your feet before the fish are running.” SportsMed Alaska is located in Kenai at 260 Caviar St. Call for an appointment at 907-283-5458 or learn more at www.sportsmedalaska.com