'Community' Surgeon Treats Johns Creek Athletes

Spend more than a few minutes with Dr. Mathew Pombo and you’ll hear the word “community” quite a bit.

It’s a cornerstone of his contribution to the area where he grew up. Born at Northside Hospital, Pombo would attend Norcross High before graduating from Duluth in 1995. From there he would earn a degree from Georgia Tech before going to Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. Orthopedic training would come at Wake Forest University before a medical fellowship at the University of Pittsburg. There, Pombo not only worked with all university athletics but players on the Steelers and Penguins as well.

“People would think that was great and it was a blast,” says Pombo, 35, “but my wife (a Meadowcreek High grad and nurse) and I are both from this area. Our parents live here. Our siblings are all here. We always wanted to come back and be near our families when we started our own.”

So Pombo traded out flying to NFL games on the Rooney family jet and checking Troy Polamalu’s tweaked knee to return to where he grew up. That medical experience has paid off. Through Pombo’s efforts and a partnership with Gwinnett Medical Center, area high schools such as , , Peachtree Ridge, Duluth, Brookwood, and Hebron Christian are benefitting from collegiate-level athletic training and care.

“Those schools pay nothing for those services,” says Kim Winn, a certified athletic trainer out of Gwinnett Medical Center. “All of it is available to the community for free.”

The only “payment” comes in the form of advertising or signage for GMC around the area. The tradeoff is miniscule. An athletic trainer and high-level orthopedic doctor (Pombo) are available to dispense free advice and treatment to anyone in the community, whether that be a school-sponsored athlete suffering a knee injury, skateboarder dealing with a sprained wrist, or weekend warrior nursing a strained hammy.

A bonus to Winn’s association with GMC is that in the case of an extreme emergency during an athletic event, she can call ahead to prepare personnel.

“If a kid gets hurt, I can contact the ER and give them a heads-up on what situation they’ll be facing,” adds Winn, a South Carolina native who has a biology degree from Winthrop University but extensive background in sports medicine.  

When Pombo returned to the area, he contacted Scott Maughon at The Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Institute of Gwinnett. Maughon and Pombo became acquainted when Pombo injured his knee playing soccer while a student at Tech. An initial surgery somewhere else didn’t work in repairing his torn ACL and meniscus, but a follow-up operation performed by Maughon proved to be much more effective.

“He’d always said that if I were to return to the area to give him a call,” says Pombo, now a community physician alongside Maughon at the Institute. “He was one of the first sports medicine doctors in this area and was the ‘founding father’ of what we have going on in all of these schools.”

The swift attention to players’ injuries has been apparent. Johns Creek junior wide receiver and safety Jack Pomerantz seriously injured his knee two weeks before the Gladiators’ first scrimmage game this year. Winn evaluated Pomerantz on the sidelines before calling Pombo’s office to make an appointment right away.

In the doctor’s office, Pomerantz told Pombo his goal was to “pull a Heinz Ward,” referring to the former Georgia star and Steelers wide receiver who once returned from a knee injury in a week.

Pombo reassured Pomerantz it was a possibility, said the latter’s father, Jeff. A few of the doctor’s techniques such as eschewing a tourniquet to maintain blood flow to the knee and getting in and out of the area quickly to limit trauma would help the patient recover faster.

After surgery Pomerantz worked with Winn twice a day for the next couple of weeks, keeping his leg iced and elevated when not in rehab. By the second game of the season he was back on the field, contributing three tackles and an interception in .

Though it’s good seeing young athletes excelling, another motivation pushes Pombo. Having played a key role in establishing a system-wide concussion prevention program in the Gwinnett County School System, he pays special attention to how head injuries not only can impact an athlete physically but in the classroom.

“Athletes will minimize these injuries,” he says. “We’re really learning more about how these kids’ brains are affected and what that does to their ability to focus in school. In those younger than 21, there’s a phenomenon known as Second Impact Syndrome. If they get hit just the right way, they can die from it.

“I educate the parents [on those dangers]. When those players get hit, we can help them slowly get back to where it’s safe for them to get hit again. We don’t want their grades to suffer.”

The competition to get into schools such as Tech and UGA has grown, he adds. “One semester of bad grades from a concussion could ruin their college chances.”

“I tell local coaches that I don’t work for the hospital, I work for the school. If there are things we can put in place to help these kids succeed, we’ll work to make it happen.

“Accessibility and community are very important to me. It’s fun to see these kids growing up and doing the things I did 20 years ago.”