Gifford Medical Center offers healthy cooking classesGifford Medical Center offers healthy cooking classesGifford Medical Center offers healthy cooking classeSharon Health Center expands
RANDOLPH, May 20, 2008 – When Gifford Medical Center opened its Sharon Health Center and Sports Medicine Clinic in 2005 off from rural Route 14, the hope was expert physicians and high-tech diagnostic equipment would lead athletes to the small-town facility.
That hope has not only become reality, but reality has exceeded expectation.
Patients come from near and far (some even
from distant countries) to visit the little Sports Medicine Clinic that looks more like a schoolhouse than a high-tech facility, and
they’re coming in increasingly large numbers. Since opening in October 2005, the number of patient/athletes seeking care at the Sharon Health Center has grown sixfold.
And now the health center has grown with them.
Through a construction project that began in
December, 
added to the Sharon Health Center
is 2,200 square feet. The expansion nearly doubles the size of the building and includes
full-service, digital X-ray technology in Sharon
for the first time, an expanded physical therapy program and new patient examination space.
The new examination space was needed in part because Sharon has welcomed a new sports medicine provider, Dr. Peter Loescher, and
hopes to soon add a new family provider.
Dr. Loescher is a board-certified family physician who has special training and years of experience in sports medicine. He joins podiatrist Dr. Robert Rinaldi and chiropractor Dr. Hank Glass on the sports medicine team.
The addition of Dr. Loescher and new diagnostic equipment in Sharon means better, more efficient care for patients, according to Drs. Rinaldi and Glass.
“We recognize that many athletic injuries are
multidimensional and require a team approach,” Dr. Glass
says. “The team approach necessitates a sports specialist
in many areas of expertise. With the addition of Dr.
Loescher, the team is in place.”
Dr. Glass adds: “The timely treatment of athletic
injuries also requires immediate access to diagnostic
information. With our digital X-ray facility onsite and
access for rapid nuclear imaging, we at Sharon Sports
Medicine feel we are staffed and equipped to handle all
chronic and acute athletic injuries.”
Drs. Rinaldi and Glass are well known among athletes. Dr. Rinaldi is a former marathon runner, is a medical writer, fellow and founding member of the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine, and serves on the Vermont Board of Medical Practice. Dr. Glass was on the U.S. Track and Field medical team for 12 years, was a doctor on staff for the Pan Am Games and 1996 Olympics, and worked with the Atlanta Beat women’s professional soccer team. Both now work with Dartmouth College athletes and co-direct the medical team from the upcoming Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run.
Dr. Loescher brings six years experience treating athletes at his former private practice, White River Sports Medicine in Lebanon, N.H. He also serves as director of sports medicine and school physician for the Cardigan Mountain School in Canaan, N.H., and is an assistant professor of sports medicine and family medicine at Dartmouth Medical School.
Together, Drs. Rinaldi, Glass and Loescher provide what Dr. Loescher calls an “incredible collaboration” that “is well on its way to realizing our dream of efficient, comprehensive care under one friendly roof.”
Dr. Loescher joined the health center last month, when the expansion first opened to patients. Final landscaping, paving and painting continue on the expansion project through the end of the month.
Learn more about the Sharon Health Center or make an appointment by calling (802) 763-8000.