The Drill: Sanford's Dr. Harwood a part of total team care in Worthington
Sep. 21—WORTHINGTON — Dr. Jared Harwood of the Sanford Worthington Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Clinic made many stops in many places before he came to Worthington.
He was born in Oregon, his family moved to Florida when he was a young child. He went back to Oregon as a teen-ager. Between his educational opportunities and the military, he moved all over the country — to Brigham Young University, for instance, for graduate studies, and to Georgetown University in Washington DC courtesy of the U.S. Navy. He spent one year at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center in Virginia, was sent off as a flight surgeon, and also studied at The Ohio State University, and in Illinois at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.
When The Globe sports department came to interview him recently, he was attending to a foot injury that had been sustained by one of the Minnesota West Community and Technical College football players. His easy-going manner and thorough examination was impressive. Doctors obviously know a great deal about their chosen fields, and it was obvious in Dr. Harwood's case that he also knows quite well how to deal one-on-one with a patient.
One-on-one care is a big part of what Dr. Harwood does in Worthington. But he also believes that total medical care is a team effort, and during the Globe interview he made special mention of the radiology technicians, the athletic trainers, the nurses he works with, and the other key medical personnel he collaborates with — including other physicians, of course — which together treat the whole person.
Dr. Harwood clearly enjoys working individually with his patients, as well. Perhaps it was learned early in life. Much of his inspiration to work in the medical field was derived from his mother, who spent nearly half a century as a nurse.
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After so much time spent moving from one place to another and then to another, Dr. Harwood says he's very happy to make Worthington home for his wife and five children (with a sixth on the way).
"I'm basically here to address any musculoskeletal problems or complaints," he said. "And when I say musculoskeletal I mean mostly anything that involves joints or muscles. It tends to be a wear-and-tear business. But that includes injuries, so sports injuries."
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Besides interviewing Dr. Harwood, The Globe put together a video which you can see online at
. Here's a sample of the discussion we had with him:
QUESTION: How have you come to find Worthington?
ANSWER: "I've only been here since the end of June. No family member lived in Minnesota since finding Sanford here. But we're really excited to be part of the community. ... We just love the small-town feel, and knowing all your neighbors."
QUESTION: And your inspiration for getting into medicine?
ANSWER: "As far as my inspiration for going into medicine, I give most of that credit to my mother, who was a nurse. And she spent about 45 years in nursing. ... So I knew I wanted to do something that involved hospitals and caring for patients. And slowly and surely that became becoming a physician and going into surgery."
QUESTION: We're told that you don't want to end this interview without being inclusive of the whole orthopedic team you collaborate with. So here's your chance.
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ANSWER: "I would just say that it, really — just like it takes a village to raise a child — I feel that any time you have an illness it really takes a village to help the patient get better. And the most important person in that equation is the patient. Making the patient kind of the center point, and I kind of see them as the hub, and you have all these spokes out to the different individuals (that get it all to work)."
