Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus Fairleigh Dickinson on December 2, 2025 , Win , 94, to, 64
Men's Basketball
vs Fairleigh Dickinson
Final
94
-
64
Providence College Athletics
Friar Men's Basketball And Lacrosse Players Visit Kent Hospital
10/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Oct. 8, 2010
WARWICK, R.I. - The Providence College men's basketball and lacrosse teams visited Kent Hospital in Warwick, R.I., on Thursday, October 7. The visit allowed the student-athletes to shadow doctors and nurses to learn about the health care field, while also providing the opportunity to meet with patients. The teams were joined by Providence Associate Vice President/Athletics Director Bob Driscoll and lacrosse Head Coach Chris Burdick.
Ray Hall (Denver, Colo.), Bilal Dixon (Jersey City, N.J.), Gerard Coleman (Boston, Mass.), Bryce Cotton (Tucson, Ariz.), and Brice Kofane (Yaounde, Cameroon) represented the men's basketball program. Lacrosse student-athletes Evan Helda (Charlotte, N.C.), Zach Rogers (Palos Verdes, Calif.), JT Weber (West Hartford, Conn.), Sean Wright (Silver Spring, Md.) and Bertan Unal (Potomac, Md.) participated.
The visit was the concept of Sandra Coletta, president and chief executive officer of Kent Hospital and a Providence College graduate. Her desire was to bring student-athletes to the hospital to do more than just meet with patients, creating a true educational experience.
"This is to show the students that there is another dimension to what life is all about," Coletta told the groups before the tours. "It provides an opportunity for students to see what hospital life is all about. They will see things they have not seen before."
The student-athletes visited various areas of the hospital, including the intensive-care unit, patient/nursing floors, the wound treatment center hyperbaric facility, the infusion unit and the operating room. The players had the chance to gain insight into the everyday lives of doctors, residents and nurses.
One group, including Hall, Cotton, Helda, Driscoll and Burdick had the opportunity to see the hospital's wound center, including three hyperbaric chambers used to increase oxygen pressure, similar to deep-sea diving, using exposure to 100 percent oxygen to treat wounds. The wound center at Kent sees approximately 8,000 patients per year and has the only hyperbaric facility in Rhode Island that is open 24 hours per day. Because of this, Kent sees emergency patients ranging from carbon monoxide poisoning to decompression sickness from deep-water diving, in addition to wound patients. The group was also shown before-and-after pictures of wounds that had been treated at the center, showing the drastic healing power of the hyperbaric chamber.
The group then moved on to the sleep lab, where the hospital diagnoses and treats patients who suffer from various sleeping disorders, including sleep apnea. Following the sleep lab, they moved to the infusion center, where the student-athletes were asked to meet with a patient, providing one of the more meaningful experiences of the day.
Maureen Howard, a teacher's assistant in Warwick, R.I., has been living with multiple sclerosis for over 20 years, and was receiving treatment when the group was touring the infusion center. Howard is a lifelong Friar fan and touched on several topics with the student-athletes, from her journey with MS to their studies and expectations for the upcoming seasons.
"We had an opportunity to meet with a patient with MS," Helda said. "Despite the fact she has been living with MS for so many years, I was impressed with her optimistic outlook on life."
In addition, one group of players and staff received a first-hand look at an operating room. The student-athletes were given the opportunity to don scrubs and see the lengths doctors and nurses must go to in order to keep an operating room sterile. They also received an up-close look at the instruments used in surgery.
Another group had the opportunity to visit the hospital's birthing unit. Their stops included patient rooms and the nursery, where they had the chance to see twins that had been born right around the time the group arrived at the hospital. Rogers, a freshman on the lacrosse team, was clearly moved by the experience.
"We saw twins that had just been born an hour ago," Rogers said. "It was amazing. I've never seen a baby that was just born. It was so small. Just amazing."
The final group received a tour of the emergency room, receiving a first-hand look at all the different types of care needed for the various patients that come to the unit. They were shown the different aspects of a trauma room and gained an insight into what a hectic place it can be for doctors and nurses.
After the small-group tours, the entire group gathered in the hospital's board room for a de-briefing session, led by Coletta. The student-athletes all had the opportunity to discuss what they learned and experienced in the various units.
"It was a great experience to be able to see the behind the scenes," Dixon said. All of the players agreed that it was a worthwhile experience and that they would recommend it be repeated for other student-athletes.
As a thank you, the group presented Coletta with a signed jersey and all expressed their thoughts that the program be repeated for other student-athletes.
-GO FRIARS-
Players Mentioned
Guard
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Guard
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Forward/Center
/ Men's Basketball
Forward
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