Abstract
Aims: Among the Medical Services complex missions in the context of the Olympic event an important issue is to ensure the basic and emergency health care assistance to the athletes, the Olympic Family members, the Olympic staffs, the IOC members, the media staffs, the spectators and to all of the other persons participating to the Olympic events. The base of this program is of organizing a system able of furnishing a quality standard of care which must not be inferior to the one offered daily to the resident population and at the same time the Olympic event must not impact on the quality of care provided to the resident population. Methods: In Salt Lake City, during the XIX Winter Olympic Games, 11986 medical care have been provided. Among the acute visits there have been 231 athletes injuries with 14 athletes hospitalized and 1023 non-athletes injuries. Results: For an easy manage of the system it has been decided to divide the territory of competence in two areas: the Torino urban area and the alpine area. It will be identiþed, for each area, an ofþce district, responsible for all the territories included. Separate resources for the medical assistance will be implemented in the competition area and in spectator areas. The main instrument of the whole system will be the þrst aid teams, made up of members of the regional health care system, the voluntary services, the alpine and speleological rescue corps of Piemonte, the security and rescue service of the sport centers and any other accredited bodies. The dimension of the area involved, together with the need to guarantee timely rescue, stabilization and hospitalization activities, call for the creation of helicopter bases. Conclusions: The greatness of this project will certainly allow to leave a legacy to the host city which will enrich the quality of the health care organization at the service of the residents not only of structures and buildings but also of knowledge and speciþc experiences.
Theses abstracts were prepared by Professor Dr. Frantz Langlais. Correspondence should be addressed to him at EFORT Central Office, Freihofstrasse 22, CH-8700 Küsnacht, Switzerland.
