DEERFIELD — Kate Parker of Deerfield decided to become an athletic trainer after spending a lot of time in her high school athletic trainer’s office as a three-season athlete in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
After stints at Tulane University and Middle Tennessee State University, she started helping students recover from torn ACLs, sprained ankles and other injuries at Deerfield Academy about nine years ago. Although the trainers must prioritize covering the “most contact collision” games, she makes time to watch students’ first games back on the field after helping them recover.
“I’ve always been a nurturing person,” Parker said inside the school’s gym building. “I enjoy helping people. I think it’s just in my genes.”
Dr. Leora Cohen-McKeon, another Deerfield resident, works as a primary care provider at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, treating an age group that she enjoys helping.
“It’s a time when people are just learning about how to take care of themselves, and I get to help them learn how to do that,” Cohen-McKeon said. “I often am privileged to get to hear stories and be a part of people’s lives at a time when they might not have anyone, or they’re telling [me...