WOW!

Centre street in the Village with all Nations' flags. Got to get a pic of the best one...

As many of you know, I've been around the block a few times or, like some like to say :"This isn't my first rodeo."
I have been honoured to be part of a Canadian Health Care team, many of them as CMO, since 1999 when my first experience was with the Canadian Pan Am team in Winnipeg. So I have seen, organized and set up multiple Canadian Medical Clinics. The way it works is as follows. Canada sends a delegation of athletes to these various major international competitions. There has to be an infrastructure of support staff in charge of this Canadian Team. That's what is called the Mission Staff. It involves a Chef de Mission (the lead Canadian representative), an Assistant Chef, a Village Manager, Games Manager, Operations team of athlete and sport services, Chief Medical Officer....and many more.
Health care services at these foreign events has a fully serviced Polyclinic in the Village which is for everyone. That's where we access higher services like 24 hours admissions for ill people, specialist referrals, dentistry, optometry, MRI, Ultrasound, etc.

The Polyclinic

We, as many other countries do, have our own Canadian Medical Clinic. That's where I spend most of my time when I am not covering events at fields, gyms, courts, etc. We bring our own supplies and take over some of the Team Canada residence's space and "build the clinic". That's the point of being here before anyone can show up and be ready for their arrival. That's what they call the "pre-opening". Since I was the Assistant Chief Medical Officer, I didn't have to "build it" this year...first time since 2008 in Beijing!
I had seen a few "before" pictures but what I saw when I got here was fantastic. I have never seen such large space for Parapan Ams or Paralympic events as we have smaller teams than the Olympics and are scaled down.

The clinic is so spacious! Last year in Toronto we were walking sideways down hallways and had a few rooms where we could only fit 2 treatment tables. Here it's open concept.

Open concept clinic

The decor is also much nicer than past experiences. The branding, making everything look Canada-like to establish a strong team spirit and home feel for athletes, is also much nicer than prior events. Since these apartments are going to be sold as condos after we vacate, they often have cheap drywalls and subfloors. Here we see brick walls and not too bad looking linoleum making it much warmer. The Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) spends a lot, money and people-hours, setting up as many surfaces as they can. Walls. windows, balconies are not spared.

Branding is never ending

Looked great in the sun...less when it started pouring rain though. I only took a few pictures.

I think I might be enjoying some coffees here...when it is sunny

I went to the women's wheelchair basketball practice today. Temporary structures housing many gym surfaces of great quality. The rain made it sound as if we were in a steel drum though.

The rest of the day was spent getting myself oriented to Village setup: where's the dining hall, the gym, international zone (where different services are available like store, hairdressers, few snack places and athletes gather and hang out....and visit the onsite McDonalds), transport area for all venue buses. Checking out our clinic to see where things are as I didn't set it up. Filled and organized my medical kit.

This is only half of the dining hall. You can't even see this side's back wall. Almost empty now but will be packed soon

And generally got caught up with many friends and athletes.
Only a few are here today but tomorrow will be different as we have a massive influx of teams.

The place will get very busy!

Got to go. We are helping distribute the athletes' suitcases, filled with their team clothing, to each individual's bed for their arrival. Everything is made to ease their transition and, even if we are medical, we always lend a hand when we are not busy. Since we closed the clinic at 10, it's bag delivery time!