By CHRISTINE SHULTZ

Reporter Newspapers

Meet Dr. Andrea Young – orthopedic surgeon, sports medicine specialist and local gal come full-circle.

Young grew up in Maple Valley and attended Tahoma High School, where she was an athlete in basketball, track and cross country. Today, she works as part of the sports medicine team at Covington’s MultiCare clinic. Part of her work includes attending to sports injuries as they happen at local sporting events.

The sports connection is “a fun part of my job,” Young said. “It’s fun to be able to come back to the community where I grew up and give back.”

After high school, Young left Maple Valley for Seattle and the University of Washington, where she completed her undergraduate and medical degrees. She then moved on to Cleveland, Ohio for an orthopedic residency and to Los Angeles for a sports-medicine fellowship.

Now she’s back – living in Auburn, working in Covington – and happy to be home.

“When you’re a kid, you want nothing more than to get out of here,” Young said of the area. “And then you get married and have kids of your own, and you realize that this was a great place to grow up.”

Her choice of careers was somewhat unusual. As of 2006, only 3 percent of all orthopedic surgeons in America were women, according to a report released that year by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.

“I once heard someone say (it’s because) there’s a lot of real physical challenge in setting bones, but I don’t see any reason why women can’t do that, too,” said Dr. Michael Nommensen, a family practitioner at MultiCare and colleague of Young.

Nommensen has known Young since she started at the clinic three years ago. “She’s really been a great asset to us, and approachable, too,” he said.

Dr. James Ruf, another orthopedic surgeon at the clinic, agreed. He said Young “does an excellent job.”

Ruf noted that Young was proficient in performing arthroscopic surgery for shoulder and knee injuries, a minimally-invasive technique that’s growing in popularity for treating joint injuries. She is “well-trained and up on the latest techniques of sports medicine,” he said.

Ruf said he expects to see more women in orthopedics in the future, as they come into contact with the medical specialty through their own sports careers. “The prominence of female athletes is growing, and the (number of sports) injuries to females is growing,” he said.

As for Young herself, she acknowledges that she took an unusual path, but said, “I wasn’t trying to go out and break any barriers.” She said she does hope, though, that she can serve as a role model for other young women.

“You find what you love and what you want to do with your life, and you don’t worry about the rest,” she said.

Young and her husband, Darrin Byle, are raising 4-year-old Kaegan and 1-year-old Ronan. Following in mom’s footsteps, Kaegan is already playing t-ball in Covington.

When she’s not out at a high school game, Young can usually be found performing shoulder or knee surgeries, or examining injured athletes in the MultiCare clinic. She said she enjoys being able to help athletes get well and get back to their sport.

“I always knew I wanted to do medicine,” Young said. “In college I was an athletic trainer, and I think that’s when I decided that’s the area of medicine I wanted to do.”