EDITOR'S NOTE: CAFP member Michelle Look, MD is in Vancouver as a member of the US Olympic International Medical Staff and is providing a first-person perspective of the Winter Olympics as well as her duties.    

Posted on 02.23.10 by Michelle Look, MD

I spent the day in the Whistler Village Medical Clinic yesterday. Yes, it's true, the McDonald's in the athlete cafeteria is very popular. McCafe is awesome.  This is the Green games and when I went to dispose of my rubbish, the VANOC volunteer said everything goes into recyclable except McDonald's which goes into other. How embarassing.

I was given a tour of the VANOC polyclinic and it was amazing. Not only do they have a full GE-sponsored MRI, CT, digital X-ray and diagnostic ultrasound, but their pride and joy is their Mobile Medical Hospital built just for the games. They took two double wide trailers and took out the wall in between them. It has six ICU beds, a fluoroscope, portable X-ray and an entire sterile operating room in the back. On a coffee cart sits a hematology lab to type and cross blood for transfusion. This MMH is manned by four ICU nurses, two orthopedic surgeons, two trauma surgeons, and two anestheisologists 24 hours a day. When an athlete goes down on the hill at Creekside, which unfortunately has been more than a few times, they can be longlined down the slope to a waiting helicopter and flown to the polyclinic in the athlete village about five kilometers away. There, they can be stabilized and flown down to a Vancouver trauma hospital or (if the weather is bad or the sea-to sky-highway is blocked, operated on in the MMH. Pretty impressive for a remote site. 

This weekend, I was at the bobsled venue. The speeds of the sleds and the crashes were impressive. Affectionately nicknamed the 50-50 (for 50 percent chance of crashing), turns 12 and 13 is heavily on the mind of our bobsled drivers. How does it feel to hit that wall after turn 16? "It hurts" says bobsledder Chris Fogt. And the lugers, skeleton racers and bobsledders all have the bruises to show for it. They tell me the pushers and brakeman can only listen to the pilot to decide whether to duck down further into the sled or bail out. Sometimes out of the bobsled is best but the G forces push their body into the sled and they can't jump.  Look for good things from our fourman bobsled team.

Nordic combined returned yesterday, they went home for the week to practice on their own ski jumping hill in Park City after their impressive finish last Sunday. One of the benefits we won't be able to do in Sochi in 2014.

We are constantly looking at other countries and how they have had reached their success. Especially the small countries who pull out medals. Natural talent may get you to the Games, but it may not be enough to medal. While the ridges on Great Britain's Amy Williams helmet was not what gave her the gold in luge, there were other things our center did add. For instance, a  rubberband attatched from the chin of a luger's helmet to their jersey to help keep their chin down against the 6-10 G forces pushing their cervical spine into hyperextension. Also having their gloves fashioned in a dorsiflexed, position so that when they paddle forward they get a little extra force.  For the record and for the hundredth time, we did not do the research on Austrian, American or can cheese for Lindsey Vonn.

My Hawaiian/Californian skin is perhaps getting thicker as I can now go outside with only three layers instead of five. My husband Tor came to visit for the weekend and I outlasted his Danish shell. That is a first. Standing on the hill for several hours at the sliding center can still chill you to the bone, but hearing the star spangled banner can always warm you up. Looking for our success to continue through the final week.

GO U.S.EH!