Celts' physician leaves Baghdad for basketball

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Celts' physician leaves Baghdad for basketball
 Celtics team doctor Arnie Scheller	
By MIKE FINE
The Patriot Ledger
BOSTON - Arnie Scheller has seen just about everything on the basketball court.
It was Scheller who snipped the bone spurs from Larry Bird's heel. It was he who attended to Reggie Lewis when Lewis collapsed on the Boston Garden parquet, and before that it was he who operated on Kevin McHale's broken foot. As the Boston Celtics team physician since 1987, Scheller has diagnosed countless basketball-related injuries and maladies.
The NBA, however, has been like a walk in the park compared to his latest assignment.
Scheller returned recently after spending nearly four months in Baghdad, where as a colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Corps he was attached to the 399th Combat Support Hospital. Needless to say, he saw a bit more action that he normally does from his perch behind the Celtics bench, and the severity of the injuries was something else altogether.
Scheller and his colleagues worked to heal not only U.S. soldiers, but also individuals who had been captured. In one respect the assignment was more a humanitarian mission than medical, and it's something the Milton resident is well equipped to carry out.
''I've been through Kosovo and Afghanistan after 9/11, and now Baghdad,'' he said. ''It was different. Each one of them was 'more different' in some respect.
''In this one you had a significant part of the population which was glad you were there, but you also had three groups of people that were responsible for the violence. Basically, the Baathists are the people that are in charge and were displaced. You had terrorists groups - Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas - and they were just targeting Americans. And then you had organized crime. So you had 70 percent good guys, 30 percent bad guys, but you never knew who was the good guy or bad guy on the streets.''
It was a far cry from past experiences. In addition to serving the Celtics, Scheller was the chief medical officer for the USA Cup in 1993 and the World Cup in 1994, and physician for the Pan-American Games in 1995. He co-authored the book, ''The Revision Total Hip Arthoplasty'' in 1982. His work also includes engineering the design of total hip and knee replacements.
He is chief of Sports Medicine Services at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, and maintains a private practice at three locations, including the Celtics' trailing facility, Healthpoint, in Waltham. The practice, Pro Sports Orthopedics, specializes in sports medicine and reconstructive surgery.
Needless to say, his latest experience was nothing like the athletic world he knows so well. Scheller was deployed throughout the dangerous city.
Scheller, who joined the Army Reserve not long before he took on his position with the Celtics, had been to two war zones in the past, so when he got word in mid-September that he was to be deployed, he was ready.
''It's my third time,'' he said. ''In four years I've been through three combat deployments, so it's something I'm pretty used to doing, but I worked with a small forward surgical team and we were in support of special operations command and the lead support. We used medicine to treat our soldiers and their soldiers.
''And we also used it to establish a rapport in the community, to establish an infrastructure and a rapport with the people. I think the answer to the Middle East is not going to come with bullets. It's going to come with education, infrastructure and good medical care, water and sewerage.''
If anything, the latest deployment hit his family hardest, but Scheller says his wife of 28 years, Sonia, ''is a very strong individual. We've been through a lot together.''
The Schellers have two grown children, Jess and Matt. The physician was able to speak with his family frequently, but still lost touch with some aspects of life he normally takes for granted. For instance, he really didn't know what was happening with the Celtics.
''We had some E-mail, but usually you're not talking about sports. It's hard,'' Sheller said.
During the Celtics' FleetCenter meeting with Atlanta on Friday, Scheller was presented with the ''Heroes Among Us'' award, presented to individuals who, according to the Celtics, ''through their unique commitment and humanitarian spirit, have made exceptional and lasting contributions to our community.''
Scheller will be honored with other recipients at a State House reception in June.
Copyright 2004 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Saturday, February 07, 2004