In 2018, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Winter Olympics established the first team of ski doctors in China, and five doctors from PUMCH, namely, Li Qiyi from the Department of Orthopedics Surgery, Deng Kan from the Department of Neurosurgery, He Jia from the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Che Lu from the Department of Anesthesiology, and Ren Guangwei from the International Medical Service of West Campus, had the honor of being selected. They participated in nearly 150-day professional training in skiing, emergency care on snow, helicopter rescue, and rope rescue four snow seasons in advance; they provided medical services and rescue successfully for the 14th National Winter Games of China and test events for the Winter Olympics. For the “golden 4 minutes” for rescue, the ski doctors had made preparations for 4 years.
As a popular joke goes, “what awaits you at the end of the snow course is the department of orthopedics”. Indeed, even ski doctors inevitably suffer injuries to varying degrees during training.
Li Qiyi is the big brother in the PUMCH squad of ski doctors and also a senior orthopedic doctor. On January 23, 2022, before he entered the closed loop of medical services for the Winter Olympics, he ordered an MRI for his own knees that were in severe pain, which revealed “knee effusion, patellofemoral arthritis, patellar wear, patellar contusion with bone marrow edema”. But he said nothing to his family. he simply put the MRI films away, and brought with him strong painkillers and all the drugs that could be useful and showed up on time by the tracks of the National Alpine Ski Center, ready to take on the onerous and tough task of providing medical services for the Winter Olympics, which lasted nearly two months. Despite all this hard work, he said: “It’s all worth it! However tough, tiring, cold or painful it is, there is nothing that we can’t overcome with our strong sense of mission and responsibility!”
In March 2021, Deng Kan was injured in training and needed immediate surgery for a meniscus tear and an ACL tear in his left knee. After being transported back to the hospital, he instead put on a brace, picked up his scalpel, and limped into the operating room to operate on patients whose surgery appointments were long overdue. After successfully completing six surgeries, he received the surgery himself. Immediately after the operation, he gritted his teeth and threw himself into rehabilitation training. “Every ski doctor works extremely hard. I think we are inspired by the Olympic spirit. Winter sports athletes from all over the world now gather in Beijing, promoting the Olympic spirit with their hard work and relentless pursuit of better performance. Touched by them, we are also fulfilling our mission in the spirit of ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together’, we want to show the world what Chinese doctors are like at their best!”
After entering the closed loop of management, the ski doctors wake up at 5:30 a.m. every morning and take a more-than-one-hour bumpy bus ride up the mountain before the sun rises; at sunset, they finish all their medical work and return to their residence; at 7:00 p.m., they have a summary meeting to review the day’s medical work and clarify tasks for the next day; it is almost 10 p.m. when they finally call it a day. The medical service team members jokingly said: “Even in dreams, we are thinking hard about the rescue procedures on tracks and sleep talking about calling the command center to report the injury specifics.”
Besides providing medical care during the events, the ski doctors stand by courses on other occasions, always keeping an eye on the course for athletes doing daily training and staff working on course maintenance, etc. Despite such a busy schedule, they manage to find time to cooperate with helicopters and patrollers in reviews and drills to improve medical service quality and competency across the board.
The apparent temperature on the mountain has been around -10℃~-30℃. On February 13, the first snow of 2022 fell, which dumped more than 20 cm of snow on Xiaohaituo Mountain and came with a scale 8-9 wind on the mountain top. He Jia was stationed at the mountain top starting area; to better observe the tracks, he braved the wind and snow and took off his ski goggles. The water vapor he exhaled quickly condensed into ice within the N95 mask, but the passion of PUMCHers for the Winter Olympics was not dampened in the least.
The New Year’s Day, the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival came and went, and the ski doctors remained in the closed loop of the Yanqing competition venue zone. February 16 is the birthday of the young anesthesiologist Che Lu. On Xiaohaituo Mountain, there was no cake, no flowers, and no company of her parents, but she received birthday blessings from Huang Yuguang, Director the Department of Anesthesiology of PUMCH and the Director of the Chinese Society of Anesthesiology, Chinese Medical Association, whose WeChat message read: “Since she reported to the medical service team for the Winter Olympics on December 20, doctor Che Lu has been working with grit on the snow-covered high mountain Olympic venue. I know it’s not easy and I truly appreciate it. Happy birthday, Che Lu!” The message meant a lot to Che Lu and inspired other members of the Chinese Society of Anesthesiology, Chinese Medical Association to express their respect one after another in the WeChat group. Director Huang Yuguang said: “Young doctors like Che Lu harbor a strong sense of serving the country and take the initiative to make their contribution. I am really proud of them!”
After she finished the day’s work and went downhill, Che Lu took out her phone and saw the slew of birthday blessings and cake emojis, and she felt warm inside though it was freezing. Che Lu said: “Just like an award-winning athlete must have had a strong team behind him or her, I also have my family’s understanding, leaders’ support and colleagues’ help to thank for, without them, I could not have devoted so whole-heartedly to the task. Director Huang not only shows me encouragement and care, but also ensures that I have nothing to worry about in terms of daily living and material needs. Party Secretary Xu Li acts as a bridge that showers us with kindness and support in the closed loop. My husband is also a ski doctor and we work on the same venue. I will, as I have done, roll up my sleeves and deliver medical services for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics with 100% of my gusto.”
Ren Guangwei excels at sports and has topped the medal table of the “PUMCH Olympics” for many years. Her love for sports also drove her to take the initiative to participate in and successfully complete the tasks of providing medical services on the front line for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. The Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park, where she is based, is the competition venue for freestyle and snowboard skiing events, where she and her teammates witnessed 20 gold medals being won and the whole process of well-known Chinese skiers such as Eileen Gu, Su Yiming, Xu Mengtao and Qi Guangpu shining at the Winter Olympics and realizing their dreams. “Being the first ski doctor team in China is not enough. We want to pass on our know-how and experience so that there will be more ski doctors in China and they can provide services for more winter sports events under a better-working medical service system.”
The ski doctors demonstrated a high level of professional competency in their on-site treatment of injured athletes, which earned them recognition and profuse praises from athletes and Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations. In an interview with Xinhua News, FIS Medical Committee Vice Chair Jennifer Shute said that the ability to provide medical services for winter sports is a valuable legacy of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Picture of Mr. Hans Spring from FIS Medical Committee with PUMCH ski doctors: Li Qiyi, Che Lu, Hans and He Jia from left to right
Picture of FIS Medical Committee Vice Chair Jennifer Shute (left) with Ren Guangwei
Ski doctors witnessed many sunrises and sunsets at Xiaohaituo Mountain
Reporter: Gan Dingzhu
Picture courtesy of ski doctors
Translator: Liu Haiyan
Editor: Wang Yao