San Diego Sports Medicine Foundation

The mission of the San Diego Sports Medicine Foundation is to provide a medical safety net for injured youth with limited financial means in order to return them back to health, life and sports. The SDSMF believes all kids deserve the opportunity to participate in life. We are dedicated to providing a medical safety net for injured youth without access to care. The founders represent a strong partnership between local physicians and community leaders. The youth in San Diego are more active than ever, especially in sports. With this combination of sports and active lifestyles, unavoidable injury sometimes occurs. Unfortunately, many of these injured kids do not have health insurance. A significant portion of these families do not qualify for governmental assistance as the parents are indeed employed, but in low-wage jobs. There is no mechanism for these kids to be cared for. It is certainly unreasonable to penalize the kids and ask them to wait until they have earned the money to have their necessary medical or surgical care. Our physicians are of the highest caliber, serving as team physicians for the San Diego Chargers, ESPN X-Games and USA National Rugby Team. It is the goal of the SDSMF to bring this top-quality care to the injured youth of San Diego who are in need. Already, over hundreds of San Diego youth have benefited from free medical care, with 30 of them receiving free surgical care and post-op treatment and bracing. The hallmark of the Foundation is that there will be no professional fees paid. Physicians, surgeons, anesthesiologists and therapists will not receive payment for their work. While all professional services are donated, funding is needed for the Foundation for several reasons. Money is needed to help defray the hard cost of the surgery, i.e., medications, gloves, drapes, non-reusable equipment, etc.