"I would like to say thank you to all those who took care of me, especially those who came to me when the accident occurred and the doctors and nurses in Yanqing. I was a little sad, but I also felt so much love... Good luck with the game and enjoy yourself. ”
Nina O'Brien, an American athlete participating in the Beijing Winter Olympics, suffered an accident in the second round of the women's giant slalom competition on alpine skiing the day before yesterday, with broken ribs and left leg and serious injuries. After being treated for the first time and successfully completing the operation, she thanked the first responders and medical staff at the scene on social media yesterday.
As the "king of speed" in the Winter Olympic Games, alpine skiing, which is a challenging and exciting and highly ornamental event, is also the most prone to serious injury accidents.
At the Devil's Track, which has a drop of 900 meters, athletes in alpine skiing can reach a top speed of 140 km/h in the course of their skiing. According to statistics, the probability of athletes being injured in the competition is close to 15%. And once the injury occurs, many will be more serious, and some even life-threatening.
On January 19 of this year, 37-year-old French actor Gaspard Ullier, who starred with Gong Li in "Young Hannibal", died unexpectedly in an accident while skiing.
On December 29, 2013, F1 car king Schumacher also had an accident while skiing, resulting in a serious head injury, and has not really woken up yet.
Therefore, in the field of the Winter Olympic Games, the most indispensable thing is the medical security team with a high level of emergency treatment like the top skiers. And the doctors must have both superb treatment technology and excellent skiing skills, and can quickly arrive at the scene to carry out treatment.
On the alpine skiing field of the Beijing Winter Olympics, there is such a team composed of more than 40 doctors who are excellent in medical treatment and skiing technology, and the name is "Winter Olympic Ski Medical Security Dream Team".
Carry more than 10 kilograms of medical kits and arrive at the scene in 4 minutes
Guo Qi, an orthopedic trauma specialist at Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, was the first doctor in China to be exposed to alpine skiing medical security, and now he is the deputy medical officer of the Winter Olympic Ski Medical Security Dream Team.
In 2018, Guo Qi went to Canada to inspect the medical protection of the 2018/19 World Cup Alpine Skiing Lake Louise Station, and participated in a live rescue throughout the whole process.
"Many emergency doctors abroad are mainly emergency professionals, and I have been skiing since I was a child. They are specialized emergency professionals themselves, which is not the same as the experts in various departments of various hospitals in our country to be responsible for first aid. This is also one of the key trainings we focus on before the Start of the Winter Olympics. Guo Qi said that in addition to first aid technology, the biggest problem is that doctors must have good enough skiing skills.
Like the operating table that doctors are familiar with, the Winter Olympics are a competitive arena and a battlefield for life, and they have only one opponent - time. According to the regulations of the International Snow Federation, in the alpine skiing field, once an athlete has an accident, the rescue doctor needs to carry a medical kit weighing more than 10 kilograms and rush to the scene within 4 minutes.
Guo Qi introduced: "Because this track is very long, it does not mean that as soon as you, the injured person, are injured, we will directly rush down." There may be athletes on the slope, so you have to wait for the athletes to stop before you can enter the venue, so the time given to the doctor is actually less than 4 minutes. ”
Bai Peng, an anesthesiologist at Peking University Third Hospital, said that after training, he has been able to slide to the athletes in a minute or two, "As a medical professional, rescue is very common for us. But when we are really in the snow and ice, we find that many things have changed, it is a completely different environment. ”
Since January 4 this year, the alpine skiing medical team has entered the sprint preparation stage. Train five days a week, about 4 hours a day on the snow. Female doctor Fu Yan lamented that the happiest time of the day is to run to the canteen to replenish energy.
"Raising soldiers for a thousand days and using soldiers for a while, we really have enough for a thousand days." This "dream team" established in 2018 is ready, in Bai Peng's words. "That track should have been familiar to us. Close your eyes and think of every line and every bend in your head. ”
The difficulty is far beyond the advanced tracks played by Volkswagen Snow Park
Peking University Third Hospital undertook a lot of medical care during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. So after Beijing successfully bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, they set up a hospital ski association.
Zhou Fang, director of the Trauma Center of Peking University Third Hospital and executive director of Yanqing Hospital of Peking University Third Hospital, said that the guarantee doctors who participated in the ski field of the Winter Olympics in the hospital were all from this ski association, "We established the ski association in 2016. Originally, there were not many doctors in our hospital who could ski, only about 10. The Winter Olympics certainly can't lack doctors, so I want to organize everyone, popularize skiing, and master some basic skiing techniques. In addition, it is also an opportunity for everyone to experience the fun of ice and snow sports in their spare time. ”
And compared to the skills of ski enthusiasts, to truly become a member of the alpine skiing medical support team, the improvement of skiing skills is a must. As a member of the Ski Association of the Third Hospital of Peking University, Bai Peng has a deep understanding, "I thought my skiing skills should be OK, but when I actually came to the National Alpine Ski Center, I found that I still faced a very big challenge." One is that the slope is very large, which is much more difficult than the advanced trails of our usual public ski resorts. There is also its snow surface, because the Alpine Skiing Competition International Snow Federation requires ice-like snow, which is better to call it skiing than to call it skating. Completing medical rescue on this steep ice surface is actually very difficult. ”
Today, Bai Peng has passed the second-level instructor certification of the Canadian Ski Instructors Union and also passed the domestic ski instructor certification. "The biggest difficulty for ski doctors and rescuers is to stop safely with injured athletes and make sure they don't slide down because of this slope and ice."
The cold weather is also a big challenge for doctors, Bai Peng said: "Usually, the competition weather will be minus ten degrees, or even twenty degrees, but during the examination, we must take off our ski gloves." Within a minute, the perception of cold numbness will be lost, and the movement of the hands will become very sluggish. ”
"In fact, my biggest hope is that those of us who don't appear in the camera, I hope we can hide behind the camera." Bai Peng finally said that this should be the voice of everyone in the medical security team.
There are many doctors like Bai Peng who have gone from ski enthusiasts to real ski masters, such as Li Rui, a neurosurgeon from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing. His hands, which have held scalpels for more than thirty years and saved countless lives, now look the same when they polish their skis. He proudly says he can even shave after polishing the blade of his skis.
Emergency relief also requires helicopter relays
Because the danger of alpine skiing is extremely high and the serious injury rate is not low, the entire medical protection is a three-dimensional system. The doctors of the ski medical support team must also transfer the injured athletes out of the track within 15 minutes after the injury is dealt with as soon as possible on the spot.
In addition to the ski doctor's station set up every 100 or 200 meters on the track, there is also a medical station for further treatment at the bottom of the mountain. During the Beijing Winter Olympics, the alpine ski resort has a medical support team of more than 100 people to escort the safety. Ambulances and rescue helicopters were also available to transport the injured to designated hospitals in a timely manner. All the facilities are seamlessly connected, just to ensure the speed of rescue in a race against the clock.
Guo Qi, deputy medical officer of the Winter Olympic Ski Medical Security Dream Team, said, "Because there are still games in the follow-up of the stadium, you can't always be on-site treatment, you have to quickly transport patients out of the track." Safely take to the medical station under the mountain, where a detailed assessment and treatment is carried out. ”
Throughout the Winter Olympics, the ski resort was equipped with four medical stations, 2 ICU, eight 120 ambulances, two H155 rescue helicopters and two H135 medical helicopters.
Wang Rui, head of the helicopter rescue support team of the Beijing Winter Olympics, said, "The winter climate is cold, the wind speed is large, and the meteorological conditions are complex, so it is certainly not enough to rely on the ground alone, and it is faster and more efficient to use helicopters." ”
Moreover, in the case of critically injured people in an emergency situation, medical security will also use helicopter relay for treatment and transfer. That is, the injured athletes are first sent to the medical station under the mountain through the rescue helicopter, and then immediately sent to the designated hospital of the Winter Olympics with a medical helicopter, "There are very complete emergency rescue equipment in the medical helicopter, which is equivalent to the configuration of an ICU." A total of 66 aviation medical support personnel in the entire helicopter rescue support team are maintained. ”