RT Journal
A1 Gunby P
T1 Medical preparedness: The olympic watchwords
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 1979
FD November 2
VO 242
IS 18
SP 1952
OP 1954
DO 10.1001/jama.1979.03300180004002
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1979.03300180004002
AB The first radio message came into the Lake Placid (NY) Olympic Medical Operations Center at 9 AM from the ski jump area 1.6 km away. It was bad news.New York National Guard medical personnel at the scene radioed that a competitor had lost her balance while executing a 90-m jump in the Olympic ski competition. She landed head-first in the snow, was unconscious for about two minutes, and now said that she could not move her arms or legs, which felt numb. The examining physician suspected a cervical fracture and requested evacuation by helicopter to the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, about 30 minutes away by air.While Lake Placid Olympic Organizing Committee, National Guard, and Army medical and communications experts were coping with the problem, another radio call crackled through from the base of Whiteface Mountain, 16 km away. A spectator at the alpine