In order to look after the health of Team Canada, the Health Services Team (HST) includes sport medicine physicians, orthopedic surgeons, physiotherapists, chiropractors, massage therapists, dieticians and mental performance counsellors. The medical clinic is well equipped with medications, braces, portable diagnostic ultrasound machine and even a portable multiassay PCR machine to test for various respiratory and GI illnesses. In the treatment room for physiotherapists, chiropractors, and massage therapists, there is lots of hands-on treatment as well as recovery equipment.
When not treating at the Village Clinic, the HST are covering teams on the field of play.
Within each Olympic Village, there is a host Polyclinic which provides medical specialist care, rehab services, dental care, lab testing, diagnostic imaging and a pharmacy. Here in Yanqing, the Polyclinic has portable XR and CT machines parked outside and an MRI . More seriously Injured and ill athletes can also be brought to a local hospital. As you can see, all the staff in the Polyclinic are super-PPE'd!
How did I get on the Health Services Team? The Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine (CASEM) is the main national physician organization for sport medicine physicians in Canada. CASEM assists the COC in selecting sport medicine physicians to attend major games and this year, there are 13 CASEM physicians at the Games. I'm super honoured to be a part of this incredible team!
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