Chinese Ski Doctor: Race against the clock to protect life!

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 30 Title: Chinese Ski Doctor: Race against the clock, protect life

Xinhua News Agency reporters Ma Bangjie and Liu Yangtao

"Every time you go faster on the road to rescue, the pain and danger of an athlete's injury is reduced by one point." Yuan Qiang, deputy medical officer at the National Alpine Ski Center for the Beijing Winter Olympics, said.

Alpine skiing is one of the more dangerous events at the Winter Olympics, with a total length of about 3 kilometers and a drop of about 900 meters, and the top athletes can glide at speeds of more than 140 kilometers per hour. Yuan Qiang told reporters that the injury rate of this game is close to 15%.

"When an athlete is injured, the golden rescue time is 4 minutes. After the referee issued the order 'athlete stop starting' to 'close the track', the time left for rescuers was only about 1 minute. Yuan Qiang said, "For ski doctors, the tension of racing against the clock on the slopes to rescue the injured is not inferior to that of athletes competing for gold medals." ”

In 2018, China's first team of ski doctors was established, and the team of alpine ski doctors consisted of professional medical staff from several tertiary hospitals in Beijing, and Yuan Qiang was one of them.

Yuan Qiang is the chief physician of the Spine Surgery Department of Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, with superb medical skills and a love of sports. In order to become a qualified ski doctor, he and his companions underwent rigorous ski training. "The first time it snowed, I slid for two hours on the four-kilometer slope and hit the side net four times." "That's when I realized that ski doctors weren't good," he recalls. ”

In order to improve his skiing skills as soon as possible, Yuan Qiang seized the time to practice, and even after work in the evening, he had to go to the snow field to slide a few laps, and each time he recorded the images of his skiing with videos, sent them to his friends who were ski instructors, and then modified and improved the movements a little under his guidance.

For more than three years, Yuan Qiang participated in many ski training camps, injuries occurred from time to time, the most serious one of the medial collateral ligament injuries in his right knee made him stop training for 4 months, but he still insisted on working while wearing a brace, taking into account medical work and docking with the International Snow Federation inspection. The ski software on his mobile phone records that he has skied more than 4,000 kilometers over the years, and the training time is close to 200 days.

Kung Fu pays off, and Yuan Qiang's skiing skills continue to improve. Today, he has an internationally certified ski instructor certificate, and even on the most difficult "ice-like snow" track, he can skate smoothly. "When I first joined this project, I was still a 'little white' with zero foundation in skiing, and now many colleagues around me call me 'ski god'." He laughed.

A few days ago, 38 ski doctors and medical officers, including Yuan Qiang, officially entered the venues of the National Alpine Ski Center at the Beijing Winter Olympics. The event set up more than ten track medical points, including 11 racing events, 6 competitive events, although the race has not yet begun, but the medical team members have been engaged in intense work, in addition to patrolling the medical points, they are also responsible for the treatment of injured staff.

Rong Shaoyuan, 62, is the oldest ski doctor on the National Alpine Ski Center's medical support team and, like all team members, conducts about six hours of ski training in addition to his daily patrol work.

"At the scene of medical rescue, time is life." Rong Shaoyuan said, "So I never reduce my training requirements because I am old, and since I want to do it, I must do my best." ”

In the ski doctor's medical backpack are dozens of pieces of equipment such as oxygen cylinders, gauze, and hemostatic bandages. Rong Shaoyuan said that he and his teammates have to carry such a large bag weighing more than ten kilograms every day for training, and in order to facilitate movement, they generally do not use their canes to ski, which increases the difficulty of sliding.

"In addition to skiing, snowboarding, snow walking, pre-hospital first aid, etc. are all essential skills for ski doctors, and they are also the content of our daily practice." Rong Shaoyuan said, "We strive for excellence in every technology. ”

"The Beijing Winter Olympics will be the first full appearance of Chinese alpine ski doctors, but our standards and requirements must be the highest." Liang Xueya, medical officer of the National Alpine Ski Center of the Beijing Winter Olympics, said, "In the future, there will be more international large-scale ice and snow events held in China, and we must make the 'Chinese standard' reach the international level and lead the international level." (Participating reporters: Lu Xianting, Wang Qinou, Xia Zilin) (End)