Day 4: Starting to get crowded

Things are really starting to pick up as athletes are constantly coming in the Village. This evening, the Canadian women's hockey team arrived. With about 25 players, it made a difference as they came in to the dining hall right after getting in from the airport. Some sports simply have more coverage from the press and television and faces are recognized. Unfortunately, some extremely successful athletes don't get that because of the sport they are involved in.

I haven't been busy at all from a medical point of view which is great....it means people are healthy and doing well. I went to get more familiar with the Polyclinic. What an impressive organized environment. The difference between what we are doing at the Canadian clinic and the role of the Polyclinic is about the client base and the service provision.

We treat only Team Canada members. We have many doctors associated with specific teams (freestyle skiing, snowboard, figure skating, hockey, etc) and core physicians (myself in Vancouver and Dr Victor Lun at the Whistler Village) who are mostly at the clinic but can multitask and be mobilized to help cover different Canadian teams if their respective doctor is committed somewhere else like accompanying someone to the hospital, schedule conflicts where they can't be at 2 places at the same time, and other scenarios. The Polyclinic provides services to every team especially some who don't have the luxury of having a medical team with them. They are mostly for all advanced medical services we can't provide: diagnostic imaging, dentistry, all specialist services either onsite or through local hospital referral, emergency and trauma services, observation unit and a full rehab department. They have a CT scan and an MRI machine in portable trailers.

We hope that we don't need their services but they have a state of the art operation that makes us feel pretty safe. Our comfort level is so different than when we are in foreign countries. The support network is composed of many colleagues who are also volunteering their time.

Tomorrow, practices schedules are getting busier. The freestyle skiers are in the air at Cypress and the women hockey team hits the ice. The buzz is getting louder. Chat with you soon.

Richard