Serving Up Care

The doctors arrived in leggings, fleece jackets, and sweat-wicking spandex. Physical therapists and nurses laced up their sneakers and got to work—taking down their opponents on the other side of the pickleball net, raising money to deliver healthcare to unhoused patients in their community. 

It was an image that had come to MLKCH Physician Assistant Nicole Babaran only two months earlier. “Growing up, I never played any sports, but my friends from the hospital inspired me to play pickleball,” says Nicole. Tagging along with coworkers to the courts in August of 2023, Nicole and her husband quickly became enamored with the physical and social aspects of pickleball. Played on a court a quarter the size of tennis courts, pickleball utilizes paddles, and plastic balls similar to Wiffle balls, involving techniques similar to tennis, badminton, and table tennis. With its gentle learning curve, the sport gave Nicole a way to blow off steam after long days at the hospital, where her caseload often brought her up close to the tough realities of medically underserved patients of South LA. She and her husband soon began frequenting the courts around their home in Anaheim and making new friends. 

Nicole had grown up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles but moved east to Connecticut and Massachusetts for a few years to attend physician assistant school and start her career. But she always knew she wanted to return home and put her skills to use in an underserved community, where, as Nicole puts it, “We can support so many people in so many ways.” She also knew she wanted to put down roots back in the Los Angeles area. For the past six years, she’s been doing just that at MLKCH—working every floor of the hospital has given her the chance to grow friendships and build community throughout the health system.  

Nicole wasn’t an experienced organizer. The last time she remembered taking part in a fundraiser was with her high school’s Filipino-American Club, selling food and raising money for orphanages in the Philippines. But, “I’m someone who loves to give, and I wanted to do something big and huge,” says Nicole. People at MLKCH had become like family to her. They introduced her to pickleball, which gave her another family. It was exactly the kind of putting down roots that she’d imagined while living on the other side of the country. 

With just two months before the busy holiday season, Nicole had limited time to pull things off. She worked with the MLK Community Health Foundation’s Dyan Sublett and Danielle Roane to discuss her plan. Specifically, she knew that what she raised could have a big impact on the Street Medicine department. Though she doesn’t work in the department, she was familiar with its innovative work and knew the team would use all the support it could get for its patients on the street. Says Nicole, “I respect that they’re one of the few street medicine teams out here in LA, and I really appreciate what they’re doing for the community.”

One month before the tournament, the challenges of organizing such a large event in her spare time became increasingly stressful. Only ten people had signed up to play. Undeterred, Nicole began canvassing pickleball courts by foot. As she taped up posters, she talked to pickleball players about MLKCH’s Street Medicine team and her vision for the tournament. “They were pumped!” says Nicole, “They said they’d tell other people and put it up on pickleball websites.” She stayed late after work some nights to talk to the night shift about the event, and she appealed to the competitive natures of the emergency department physicians. Looking for a food vendor, she kept striking out over high costs, until she sought out a pupusa vendor at the weekly farmers market held on the hospital campus. The business, Pupusas Delmy, had just purchased a food truck and were looking for new opportunities to reach customers. 

Before the tournament began, Nicole had no idea what the turnout would be. “I was just in the zone, hoping everything was going to be ok,” she says. But then volunteers began arriving, almost sixty of them, drawn from every corner of Nicole’s life—friends, family, co-workers, fellow pickleball players. Some set up a registration table and games for kids to play while their parents were competing, others prepared to serve as scorekeepers. A pickleball coach who’d agreed to lead a clinic for those who didn’t know how to play started his lessons. Nicole put Dr. Sarat Varghese, Medical Director for Street Medicine and Hospital Medicine at MLKCH, on trash duty. The pupusa truck and two food stalls set up, the DJ began to spin tunes, a raffle was spontaneously created—and the pickleball tournament was underway.

A beginners division let those who had just started playing pickleball get competitive, while intermediate and advanced players duked it out for top honors. Physicians and nurses traded shots, with the physician pair of Dr. Yelena Gelman and Dr. Monica Kumar taking 3rd place in women’s beginner doubles. By the end of the long day, more than 160 participants and 300 spectators had come out to support Nicole’s vision and MLKCH’s work. The event raised $13,300 for Street Medicine, which will support everything from medications to equipment to personnel costs. 

Somehow, with the help of family, old and new friends, and co-workers—the community she had worked so hard to build—it was all exactly as Nicole had imagined.