While business at University Hospital suffered during the Games, the Polyclinic kept busy treating athletes in the Olympic Village.
The clinic, set up to serve Olympic athletes, officials, volunteers and staff, cared for nearly 1,800 patients during its 29-day run.
“We were the busiest medical clinic in Salt Lake City,” said William Holt, University Hospital Olympic coordinator.
Between the Polyclinic and the U’s emergency treatment area downtown, the U took care of nearly 40 percent of the medical cases during the Games, Holt said.
“By far, the most frequent problem or complaint has been musculoskeletal types of injuries?strains, tears,” said Rick Fullmer, executive director of University Hospital.
Other than musculoskeletal problems, patients came in for dental work and eye care. According to Fullmer, the clinic issued more than 200 pairs of eyeglasses.
Fullmer believes everyone who used the clinic’s services needed to, and no one took advantage of the system.
“The requirements for providing care are fairly straightforward, and we have stayed pretty much in those guidelines,” he said.
The Polyclinic received more patients than any other Winter Olympic polyclinic before. Holt credits the number of patients to the large amount of athletes at the Games.
“We had more athletes, more countries participating and people got the word out to their teams” about the Polyclinic, he said.
The operations ran smoothly throughout the Games.
“Everything went pretty much as we expected,” Holt said. “We can’t plan for everything, but we were able to adapt and make things work.”
The 2002 Games were the first time in Olympic history an academic medical center provided clinical services. Overall, Holt was very happy with the clinic.
“We set out to provide one of the best winter Polyclinics ever, and from the feedback we’ve gotten, I think we’ve succeeded,” he said.
The clinic shut down on Tuesday at noon, and will reopen today at noon as its 24-hour services resume for the Paralympics.
While the same services will be offered, a smaller staff will provide them.
“There will be quite a decrease of people in the Village,” Holt said. “We’re not cutting back services, we just don’t need as many bodies.”
The majority of the staff will carry-over from the Olympics, with a few new additions.
“We have some physicians flying in who are experienced in working with both disabled patients and with athletes,” Holt said.
The Polyclinic will officially shut down March 19, and the building will completely revert back to a Guest House sometime in May.