For our Scot Summer Stories, we're catching up with a few of our student-athletes to see what they have been up to this summer. In this week's feature we talk with Alexa Bencic, a rising sophomore on the women's soccer team. Alexa is interning at Beacon Orthopedics in Cincinnati where she is shadowing surgeons in surgeries and clinicals as well as experiencing different aspects of sports medicine.

Alexa places cups on a patient's quads to relieve soreness and to promote blood flow and healing.

Q: What did you do at Beacon Orthopedics?

A: I got to spend six weeks there, two weeks in surgery, two weeks in PT (physical therapy) and two weeks in clinic. I shadowed different doctors and nurses to learn about all of the different jobs in both surgery and clinic. I also spent two weeks working with a PT team. I began by just watching and listening, but by the end of my internship I was able to scrub into surgeries, suture wounds, draw injections and run the clinic working directly under a doctor. 

Q: What did a normal day entail for you?

A: My days started very early and typically ran late. When I was in the OR I would observe about fifteen surgeries a day. I helped set up before patients were brought back and cleaned after they were finished to aid in turning over the rooms. I watched everything from ACL reconstruction, to UCL reconstructions, to total knee and hip replacements, and everything in-between. I was able to scrub in and stand up with the surgeon and hold tools while he was operating. I helped close on patients by suturing wounds and prepping them to go to post-op. While I was in PT I followed patients that I had seen in the operating room the past two weeks. I worked on a team with five members and we saw about forty patients a day. We did new patient evaluations, post-op cleaning, dry needling, cupping, massage, graston massages, and followed a very regimented exercise program. In clinic I was able to shadow with doctors and then learned enough to be an MA for a doctor. In clinic I learned how to evaluate a new patient, order x-rays, present a patient to a doctor, work and read ultra sounds, read x-rays and MRIs, draw and mix injections and write both PT and prescription scripts. In clinic I would call a patient back, take notes on their injury, report to the doctor, and then prepare whatever the doctor wanted to treat the patient with. 

Q: What interested you the most about interning at Beacon?

A: I really have a passion for science and medicine and I was really excited to learn about how a medical facility operates. I play soccer at Wooster and have played for fifteen years, so my connection to sports is also very prevalent. I was really excited to be able to combine two of the things I am most interested in. I liked that I could relate to the athletes that came in, and I felt like we had an immediate connection because I was really able to understanding what they were experiencing. I also really loved that I was able to be so involved with surgery and clinic at Beacon. There is a huge emphasis on teaching and education at Beacon and I knew I was going to be having an amazing hands-on experience that combined my favorite things.  

Q: Do you have a favorite moment at your internship?

A: I have two favorite moments. I absolutely loved being able to scrub into surgeries and hold tools for the surgeon and be able to see up close exactly what they were doing. I was able to hold army navy's to keep knees and hips open so the surgeon could work. Another shinning moment was when I was able to communicate with a Spanish-speaking patient who didn't have a translator. I am a Spanish minor, and I was the only person present in the clinic who was able to communicate with the patient before the doctor arrived. The only Spanish I've ever taken has been at Wooster, but it was enough to get basic information and patient history so that X-rays could be taken and the patient could be treated. It was a really amazing moment. 

Q: How are you spending your summer outside of your internship? Have you done anything interesting of note?

A: I have been spending time with my family and friends as well as traveling when I have free time. I babysit a lot and recently started working at a flower shop on the weekends. I am taking a trip to Arizona to visit the Grand Canyon and Mexico, and will be spending a week at the lake house over the holiday. I also spend time getting in shape for the soccer season, and of course I watched the World Cup!

Q: What are you hoping to takeaway and accomplish when your internship concludes?

A: My main goals were to learn and experience medicine as actively as I possibly could as well as make connections and relationships with those that I worked with. I wanted to explore sports medicine and the different facets that are included in it, and I was able to see everything that it offered. I hoped to learn if medicine was what I truly wanted to do, and this internship confirmed absolutely that I love medicine and want to go to medical school. I was also able to have an amazing experience and am now considering being an orthopedic surgeon myself.

About APEX Fellowships

APEX Fellowships offer structure and mentored support to students engaged in unpaid summer internships or vocational exploration programs of at least six weeks (or at least 225 hours) in duration. The fellowship includes funding, a learning contract, regular structured reflection, final reflective assignment and evaluation, on-campus reporting, and ongoing staff support. This summer, the College's experiential learning team funded 60 such fellowships. To learn more about the College's APEX Fellowship program click here.