900 medical interventions at the Montreal marathon

Photo: The Duty
The Montreal half-marathon and the 10 km have begun earlier Sunday, while the mercury should climb up to 30 degrees Celsius.

The riders endurance have greatly suffered from the effects of the heat that hit Montreal, Sunday. Nine hundred participants of the half marathon were presented to the clinic set up by the organizers.
 

On average, 500 to 600 surgeries are performed each year with temperatures of about 15 to 18 degrees Celsius, according to the coordinator medical event, Eddy Afram.
 

This comparison comes to show the relevance to have cancelled the race-queen — the marathon — which would have required three hours of running additional in a very high heat, insisted Mr. Afram in an interview with The canadian Press.
 

According to him, the continuation of the holding of the half-marathon was the best compromise and a good run of consolation for those who have not been able to do the marathon “.
 

The mercury should climb to 28 degrees Celsius and 38 degrees if you take into account the humidex.
 

To cope with the heat wave in autumn, the half-marathon and the 10km race had started earlier. In addition, 18 stations, additional water and a sprinkler system at the finish line have been installed, towels soaked in cold water have been distributed, and nearly four tons of ice were acquired.
 

The medical workforce have also been revised upward. Including the team of sports medicine and the stakeholders in the pre-hospital setting, more than 300 stakeholders were mobilised.

In spite of the contributions in sudden patients, the medical team has never exceeded 50 percent of its capacity, according to organizers.
 

“Normally, 60 to 70 percent of our interventions are of musculo-skeletal origin, so sports medicine : muscle cramps, sprains, wounds, said Eddy Afram. With the temperature, there has been a lot of cases of heat stress. “

In addition to the clinic set up by the organizers, teams of Emergency health were present in large numbers to ensure the first aid to both riders and the general population come to cheer them on.
 

Paramedics have carried out 20 transport to the clinic and four others to hospitals, said the spokesperson of the organization, François Lebel.
 

Ten ambulances additional had been sent to the scene of the event, and a command post has been erected so as not to interfere with regular operations.