For Immediate ReleaseContact:Daron Cowley801-442-2834[email protected]
UTAH HOSPITALS AND CLINICS WILL BE OPEN AS USUAL DURING OLYMPICS
Salt Lake City, Utah, February 1, 2002 - If you need to go to a physician clinic or hospital in Utah during the Olympics, you may be pleasantly surprised to find that they will be open to the public as usual.
Intermountain Health Care (IHC), the medical services provider for the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, plans to have its hospitals and clinics open and providing care just as they would any other time of the year.
Some individuals had questioned whether Olympic visitors during the Games - estimated at more than 100,000 extra people in Utah each day - might fill area medical facilities, making it difficult for local residents to get care.
"After researching past Olympic Games, we don't believe that will happen," said Douglas R. Fonnesbeck, IHC Olympic liaison. "All of our facilities will be able to care for patients from our communities just like they typically do."
Through careful scheduling and advance preparation, IHC has been able to recruit medical volunteers without causing a Games-time drain on Utah hospitals and clinics.
Most medical services required by Olympic athletes and visitors will actually be provided at the competition venues. IHC will staff 35 temporary medical clinics - one for athletes and one for spectators and staff at each of the Olympic venues, plus several other sites - that will provide first aid and basic care. It's anticipated that the clinics will see about 10,000 patient visits during the Games.
Five of IHC's hospitals are designated as Olympic Hospitals - including LDS Hospital in Salt Lake, McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, Cottonwood Hospital in Murray, Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, and Heber Valley Medical Center in Wasatch County.
Historically, few Olympic athletes or spectators need to be admitted to area hospitals. In Nagano in 1998, 128 patients were transferred from Olympic venue clinics to local hospitals, but only 12 of those patients had problems serious enough to be admitted.
Hospitals in other cities that have hosted the Olympics found that the number of patients in their facilities actually decreased during the Games. Some have speculated that this might have happened because many people put off elective medical procedures to attend the sporting events or watch them on television. The volume of patients treated at the hospitals tended to be higher before and after the Olympics.
IHC is a charitable, community-owned, nonprofit health care organization based in Salt Lake City that serves the health needs of Utah and Idaho residents. The IHC system includes health insurance plans, hospitals, clinics, and affiliated physicians.
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