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Doctors should be warned in advance

Editor:

Editor:

I must congratulate those who competed and achieved distinction in the dangerous sports which took place recently in Burns Lake.

I am pleased to see that only a few people were injured this time, in contrast to the same events last year when we had a total of six fractures requiring various degrees of treatment.

I would like to make two important points which, I hope, will be born in mind for the future.

The first is that I recently treated a person with a head injury. He had landed on his head and was wearing a full helmet. I saw the helmet which had taken significant force in a place which would not have been protected by a standard helmet.

I have no doubt that he walked away unharmed because of the type of helmet he was wearing, otherwise, I doubt he would have been with us any more.

Also another competitor in another competition suffered a serious head injury in a sport where head protection is not usual and had to be transferred to Prince George.

Can I appeal that, if you must enter these extremely dangerous sports, appropriate head protection be worn and in the case of downhill biking, should include a full helmet.

The second point I wish to make is to the organizers of these and similar events.  You are mostly local people who are aware of the medical manpower situation in Burns Lake. There have been times in the past and will be times in the future when the emergency room is not covered by a doctor.

This is to allow for adequate time to recover from periods when doctors are working flat out for your benefit.

We only found out that the Big Pig was happening a week or two before the date. This meant rearranging schedules and, fortunately we were helped by a doctor from out of town.

Dr. Shannon Douglas stepped in to cover at very short notice, as well as the extra nurses who were needed.  On call schedules are made up weeks ahead of time.

It would be appreciated if organizers of these and similar events would warn the medical facility well in advance so we can provide adequate nursing and medical staff, so we are able to properly care for those who are unfortunate enough to be injured.

Dr. Allan Hill, Burns Lake