J. Charles Rich, Jr., MD, immediate Past President of the ANNS, was appointed the Chief Medical Officer of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Dr. Rich was President of The American Association of Neurological Surgeons in 1996 and remains on the AANS Board of Directors.
As Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Rich will assume a leadership role in assuring the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee’s medical service time lines, objectives and medical-related issues are accomplished. He also will play a vital role in the International Olympic Committee Medical Commission over the next four years. The Bulletin recently asked Dr. Rich about his new role and what it means for him and organized neurosurgery.
How did you initially become interested in the Chief Medical Officer position for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games?
For many years I consulted with and treated college athletes who had sustained head or spine injuries while representing the University of Utah. Elite caliber athletes, particularly those who compete in the Olympic Games, must have access to able, as well as ethical, medical doctors.
Because of that background and those concerns, I inquired as to the exact job description of the XIX 2002 Winter Olympic Games Chief Medical Officer. That inquiry, in turn, brought about an invitation to attend a three-day meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC Medical Commission held in Monaco). The experience there confirmed, to my satisfaction, the important mission of that panel and the high quality of the individuals who comprise it. They are an impressive group with whom I feel comfortable serving and sharing considerable responsibilities.
Over the next 3 years, what will be your responsibilities as the Chief Medical Officer?
For the present time my responsibilities are two-fold. First, with a good deal of staff support from Intermountain Healthcare, Inc. (IHC) and the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC), detailed plans are underway to accurately project and then meet the potential medical needs of the three thousand Olympic athletes, hundreds of Olympic officials and the estimated more than a hundred thousand spectators and journalists who will visit our city during February of 2002.
Intermountain Healthcare, Inc., a respected not-for-profit medical care organization (MCO) with more than twenty hospitals in our region, has committed its staff, facilities and financial support to help ensure that we, as a medical community, succeed. All of the medical services will be provided on a voluntary basis and will require consensus-building within public health, nursing, EMT, paramedic, dental and physical therapy groups in addition to the large number of medical doctors whose contributions of time and talent will be essential if we are to achieve our goal.
A second duty relates to my role as a member of the IOC Medical Commission. At the Nagano Winter Olympic Games this coming February, 1998, for instance, I will have direct responsibilities for the supervision of drug testing of athletes. The same will be true at the Sydney Summer Olympic Games in 2000. The IOC, through its Medical Commission, takes a firm stance against “doping” of athletes under any guise. Positive urine tests are rare, but the testing continues to be rigorous and is scientifically credible. The Medical Commission is adamant about this issue and their stance is both justifiable and admirable. I will have no hesitancy advocating their policies and helping to enforce them.
When the job becomes full-time the six months before the Olympics and during the Games, what will your role be?
For the six month period just preceding the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, it may be difficult to maintain my usual practice of neurological surgery, but I will try. That is how I earn a living. On the other hand, the capable administrative staff provided to me by IHC and SLOC cannot do what will be most needed just before and during the Olympics: the enlistment, encouragement and organization of willing, capable medical coverage personnel for the multiple competitions venues and the emergency medical needs of participants and spectators. That may be a full-time job.
At the recent IOC Medical Commission Meeting, Dr. John Cantrell, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games, delivered a compelling slide presentation and report which vividly portrayed the enormity of the medical obligations and responsibilities which were carried out just one and one-half years ago. The Atlanta medical community set a high standard of cooperation and generosity for others to follow. Like Dr. Cantrell, I will need enthusiastic, dedicated assistance from many others if we are to have comparable success. Our excellent University of Utah Health Sciences Center has volunteered, for example, to construct the facilities and then provide medical services at the Olympic Village Polyclinic, which is to be located on campus. We will need assistance from individuals and groups across our entire medical community spectrum.
How does your training as a neurosurgeon prepare you for this position?
The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for the Nagano 1998 Winter Olympic Games is also a neurological surgeon. A member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), Shigeaki Kobayashi, an internationally recognized skull base neurosurgeon trained at the Mayo Clinic and residing in Marsumoto, Japan, has proven to be an excellent planner and administrator.
We are a small yet differentially important surgical subspecialty. In virtually every aspect of our practice, we have to work with others. It is a practical necessity. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that neurosurgeons tend to become involved with and assume other organizational responsibilities. Willingness to cooperate and collaborate are common neurosurgical attributes. As an illustration, since I will depend upon close cooperation between IHC and our academic medical center, it is advantageous that the new Dean of our University of Utah School of Medicine is a neurosurgeon, Peter Heilbrun. Needless to say, that is just fine with me.
Actually, if this entire venture turns out to have been anything other than great fun, wonderfully informative and thoroughly enjoyable experience, I will be very surprised!