Q: What did you learn from being a scholar-athlete that you've been able to apply to your profession?
McQuaid: Playing college softball taught me the importance of working as a team, that different players have different strengths and play different roles, and everyone is needed and everyone is important. In the emergency department, we rely on all of our staff including physicians, respiratory therapists, nurses, radiology technologists, registration staff, physician assistants, emergency techs, paramedics, custodial staff, and the many other people that make the emergency department operate. Without any one of these people, our jobs become infinitely more challenging. We rely on one another's expertise for the common goal of providing the best care possible for patients.
Q: What suggestions, advice, or words of encouragement do you have for our current-scholar athletes during these trying times?
McQuaid: These are very unpredictable times. Respect others in the community who are all going through changes one way or another. Life does not always go as planned, so to all the student-athletes out there, play every game as if it were your last. Never take for granted the time you have on the field, to play the sport you love, with the people you love.
