An outsider's inside view on the Medical tent at IM .

Triathlon Forum
1

I couldn’t resist passing this on. My father lives in Madison, and works for the UW Medical School/Hospital etc. I teased him last year about the upcoming IM and asked if he was going to check it out, which he pointedly did not.

Anyway, several of his colleagues worked the medical tent last year, and my dad just forwarded me the call to arms for this year. Seemed worth passing on, if for no other reason than to see our holy grail through the eyes of the un-enlightened:http://www.phxn8tv.com/iamwithstupid.gif

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The Madison “Ironman” event will be held again this year. Sunday, Sept. 7 is the date. The medical directors for that event are again asking for medical providers to volunteer for the medical tents.

As they state about last year’s event:

“Based on our experience last year, I can say that this is the closest to a disaster environment that any of us are likely to see outside of a military or true natural disaster situation. We were forced to effectively triage large numbers of “casualties” and provide onsite care for the majority with minimal technology. We saw pulmonary edema, severe hypoglycemia, hypothermia, and lots of fluid disturbances. In spite of perfect weather, I believe we cared for over 200 athletes, administered IV fluids to over 100 and transferred about 20 to the local hospitals for further care.”

Anyone interested in volunteering should email Dr. ********* at <**********>

Thanks

*********, M.D.

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2

Can you get me the contact information? I work with many doc’s and know of a few that certainly would voulenteer.

Thank you.

3

I’m not surprised. The first year I did an IM (LP) after finishing in 12:44 and getting cleaned up. I went down to the finish to watch others come in. I meandered around to the med tent and casually asked the guy at the front of the tent “How many people had been admitted?” He told me “hundreds”. I was appauled to say the least.

I think many people enter the race way to under trained or push themselves way to hard.

4

I think many people enter the race way to under trained or push themselves way to hard.

Some athletes think of getting an IV as an alternative to a recovery drink. They think they paid for it with their entry fee. Everyone that crosses the finish line is depleted but I bet a lot of them just panic and don’t give themselves a chance to recover naturally.

Larry