in Tatamagouche/Truro) as well as pro-viding coverage for over 20 sports at 13 sport venues. While every event of this magnitude is unique, I was very fortunate to have been able to draw from the experiences of having participated as a sports chiro-practor in four Winter Olympics and a Pan American Games. None the less, it was a significant time commitment over a two and a half year time frame with over 2200 hours volun-teered and 275 meetings. Was it worth it? Absolutely! The Medical Commit-tee and volunteers were an outstanding group of individuals. CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES First and foremost, it is important to know what the athletes competing at this level need in order to maximize perfor-mance. Not only are the services at the poly clinics planned with this in mind, but also the sport venue medical teams. During the Games, the Medical Com-mittee (Med Comm) dealt with the infa-mous “bedbug issue” at the Tim Hortons Camp in Tatamagouche. This created a situation in which the Satellite Medical Team, under the direction and leader-ship of Dr. Linda Ferguson (ACMO) and Shannon Estabrooks (ACT), had to “rally the troops” and relocate 100 kilometres away in Truro, Nova Scotia, within just 24 hours. advising the high-risk teams of the diag-nosis of, and the protocol of “return-to-play” after, concussions. The Therapy Group included chiro-practors as well physiotherapists, ath-letic therapists and massage therapists. Interestingly, massage therapy is not required by the Canada Games Coun-cil in the poly clinic or satellite clinic. However, the Med Comm decided that this was needed, and a valuable asset of the Therapy Group. The Therapy Group worked very well under the guidance of Chad Newhook (CT), Shannon Esta-brooks (ACT) and Karen Decker (MPC), sometimes working within multiple situ-ations of interdisciplinary care without any difficulties whatsoever. The lead chiropractor for the event was Dr. Lisa Richard. Other chiroprac-tors volunteering included Dr. Mary-Irene Parker, Dr. Mike Majaess, Dr. Mike Cochrane and Dr. Monique Aucoin. The feedback I received was excep-tional, especially with respect to Dr. Janice Drover, who volunteered for the entire Games at the satellite clinic, and four residents of the RCCSS(C) Sports Sciences Residency Program namely, Drs. Matt Cochran, Charles Dauphinee, Ben Murray and Warren Hefford. THE CHIROPRACTIC ROLE For the 2011 CWG, chiropractic services were included within the poly clinic in the main athletes’ village as well as in the satellite clinic within the satellite vil-lage, but unfortunately, there were no sponsored chiropractors for the Games. “Sponsored” personnel for the 2011 CWG included physicians, athletic ther-apists and physiotherapists. With spon-sored individuals, flights are covered by Canada Games Council while Host Med-ical Services provides accommodations and a per diem allowance for food. Despite not having any sponsored chiropractors, the scheduling of the It is important to know what the athletes competing at this level need in order to maximize performance. Dr. Janice Drover (a Fellow of the RCCSS) stepped in and volunteered her time, serving as chiropractor at the satel-lite clinic for the duration of the Games. There was also an unfortunate sce-nario of a para-athlete being admitted to ICU for a non-sport-related condi-tion. Dealing directly with this was Dr. Sonya McVeigh (CMO), a physiatrist, and a specialist in spinal cord injuries and concussions. Throughout the Games, Dr. McVeigh, Dr. Tina Atkinson (ACMO) and Dr. Fer-guson dealt with the issue of concussions and return-to-play protocols (using the Zurich 2008 Consensus guidelines). An attempt was made to be proactive by www.canadianchiropractor.ca chiropractors was helped dramatically by Dr. Matt Cochran (Fredericton) who volunteered over the entire two weeks of the Games to help out at the poly clinic. Local chiropractors who applied were se-lected for poly clinic shifts based on ex-perience in sports injuries and event cov-erage. These individuals included four residents of the RCCSS(C) Sports Scienc-es Residency Program (SSRP): Dr. Matt Cochran, Dr. Ben Murray, Dr. Charles Dauphinee and Dr. Warren Hefford. Dr. Dauphinee took on an addition-al role behind the scenes related to the scheduling of the medical venue teams. This was a significant contribution to the Games. SUMMARY AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS Overall, the Games were a tremendous success. At the last Chef de Mission meet-ing, Mike Bell, the vice-chair of the Ex-ecutive Committee of the Host Society indicated that there were absolutely “no complaints” about medical services. This, he indicated, was “unheard off” with the Games (having been a Chef himself in 1999 and 2001). His quote was that Medical Services had “hit a home run.” Mr. Bell’s comments were echoed by Chris Morrissey, CEO of the 2011 Canada Winter Games Host Society and Bill Moore, Chair of Athlete Services. At the final operational meeting after the Games, both commented specifically on the quality of Medical Services. Overall, it was a memorable experi-ence, one that provided great oppor-tunities for networking, collaboration and co-operation within the health-care fields in Nova Scotia. The 2011 Canada Winter Games pro-vided an excellent opportunity to show-case the health-care professions in Nova Scotia as well as to demonstrate the level of care a multidisciplinary clinic can pro-vide to athletes. My role as Chair of Medical Services also allowed me to point out that the Fel-lows and SSRP residents are well trained, as, among other roles, Medical First Re-sponders (MFRs) or Sport First Respond-ers (SFRs). Hopefully opportunities will be presented for chiropractors with the appropriate training to be assigned to the sport venue medical teams at the Canada Games in the future. This would pro-vide an excellent opportunity to work together, at the sport venues, with other members of the health-care team such as physicians, physiotherapists and athletic therapists. • CANADiAN CHiROPRACTOR | JUNE 2011 • 19
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