Vrabel 'Thankful' For Care Available To Patriots Players

Another key detail he talked about was the fact that everything they need is essentially on site at Patriot Place.  That allows the players to get the majority of tests and medical care right there, which definitely makes things easier.  He also said that when it comes to player care, the ratio of specialists to players is also high, with the number of people taking care of them being something that surprised him.

“There’s an extensive medical presentation, which is critical,” explained Vrabel. “The one thing that I tried to reference to our football team was, I went to attend a doctor’s dinner for every doctor and nurse and every person that would come in contact with our football team through the course of the year. We’re extremely lucky to be where we’re at to get that kind of care. We can get our MRIs, we can get a lot of our lab work right here at Patriot Place.”

“The one thing that Jim Whalen, our trainer, told me at that dinner, because I was like, ‘There’s a lot. I wasn’t expecting there to be this many people.’ He said that we have one specialist per every three players. Whether that’s an orthopedic or whether that’s a cardiologist, that is a neurologist, anybody that would have to be in contact with our players, we have a large group, and we’re thankful. They take care of us here at Patriot Place at Brigham and Women’s to be able to get in an MRI and get back and be efficient so the players get back in meetings.”

“All these different things. The concussion – making sure that that presentation is presented. So, there’s an extensive medical equipment, wearing the proper equipment, and understanding what that is about some of these young guys and their feet. We covered at a hotel, we covered security, we covered media. For you guys, there’s a media presentation that there’s a film that the league puts out. Stacey [James] and I talked to them about that. There’s a long checklist.”

Knowing they have that in the background is something that Vrabel more or less indicated puts his mind at ease.  As a former player, he understands that aspect of things and it was clearly something he cared a lot about as he spoke about it this morning.

“There is a lot of comfort there,” said Vrabel.  “There’s a lot of experience on Jim’s part. We’re just trying to give the players the best care that we can as quickly as we can to give each guy what they need. So, that’s been good.”

“Again, we always talk about some of these injuries are going to be unavoidable.  It’s just how we work from them and how we come back from them is what’s most important.”