Medical School! - Volvo Ocean Race

by Alby Pratt. Team News Corp on 5 Oct 2001 Life aboard a Volvo Ocean 60 presents many medical challenges for all the
crews. Each boat carries aboard two of the crew who have received medical
training and also a very extensive medical kit put together by the Volvo
Ocean Race medic team onshore.

In that kit we have the ability to treat just about every ailment that
could befall a crewmember from a nasty case of gunwale bum to fixing a
broken leg or performing a tracheotomy.

Aboard News Corp the two medics are Alby Pratt and Justin Slattery. Our
kit came open fairly early in the leg when our bowman, Shreada Duke fell
across the boat taking the kettle full of boiling water with him and
receiving a nasty burn on his backside. After a quick dousing with fresh
water, a smearing of burn cream and a bandage Shreada was up and going
again although had to spend a few days standing on deck and sleeping on
his stomach.

Different legs will present different problems for the medic teams. Leg
one with it's humid conditions will see a lot of skin problems caused by
the heat and constant exposure to salt water. On leg two the problems will
be different as it will be much colder. The Southern Ocean with it's
strong winds and big seas could see a higher chance of someone doing more
serious damage to themselves such as breaking bones or other problems such
as exposure caused by the extreme cold.

However the biggest problem that all medics face is dealing with all the
hypochondriacs aboard. For some strange reason as soon as you volunteer
for medic duty all the rest of the crew seem to think that you have just
graduated from medical school and instantly know all that there about
every little pimple that pops up on their chin.