For the first time since 2000, the chief medical officer of the Canadian delegation to the Pan American Games will be a Quebecer: Dr. Suzanne Leclerc, whose appointment was announced by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) on Wednesday.
“I’ve always had an interest in sports medicine,” she told La Presse Canadienne, who joined her earlier this week. I did an additional year of training in sports medicine at McGill University. It was in that year, 1998, that I had the privilege of working with national team athletes. I was called upon to replace a colleague on the national women’s hockey team. I have never stopped since. »
Dr Leclerc has competed in 10 major games since the Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002. The one who will be at her fourth Pan American Games (JP) when she flies to Santiago, Chile, where the competitions will be held on the 20 October to November 5, currently holds the position of medical director at the Institut national du sport du Québec (INS Québec).
She has also worked on the national short track speed skating, water polo and fencing teams, in particular, but will experience the experience of chief medical officer for the first time.
“It will be an opportunity to play a different role from general medicine and act as the leader of the medical team,” said the one who was appointed following a call for applications from the COC.
On site, she will supervise a team of seven doctors and several sports therapists, physiotherapists, massage therapists and a performance nutritionist: Évelyne Telmosse, her colleague at INS Québec. She will be called upon to support the members of her team, whether in the clinic or on the various competition sites. But most of his work will be done upstream, while all the planning, from the design of the clinic to the transport of equipment, will have to be adjusted to the quarter turn.
“Our primary role is to build a medical clinic for the duration of the Games. Then, you have to anticipate the challenges you may encounter, in Chile, in this case. The experience of my old games allows me to be able to offer a clinical service for all the games, in addition to providing field coverage during competitions. We are also there to provide medical services to the entire Canadian delegation. »
This clinic will be located on the ground floor of the Canadian Athletes’ Residences. She will provide most basic services, but for more specialized services, such as imaging (x-rays, etc.) for example, Dr. Leclerc and her team will rely on the support of the main YP clinic, set up by the host country.
Dr. Leclerc should also be aware of the list of drugs authorized by Chile, and make sure to bring with her only those whose names appear on this list.
“Every country has its rules and you have to follow them. That’s how you know what medication you can bring,” she explained.
If she can’t recall one particular incident out of the ordinary in all of her international experiences, Dr. Leclerc assures that such a clinic for athletes is no different from a “regular” medical clinic.
“The extraordinary, we manage it on the spot,” insists the one who will also take the opportunity to update herself on international practices in sports medicine.
“It’s a very rich team work for a month. It allows us to forge ties with doctors and the medical team who come from all over Canada, but also with international colleagues. To seek out this wealth of varied experiences and knowledge is very rewarding,” she summed up.