Dr. Richard Goudie and Dr. James Carson

Athletes aren’t the only ones getting ready for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Many Ontario physicians are travelling across Canada to serve as medical staff at the Vancouver Olympics. Dr. Richard Goudie, from Barrie and Dr. James Carson from Unionville are both actively involved in sports medicine and will be volunteering their services this year at the winter games. 

Dr. Goudie has been selected to be part of the Canada Health Care and Science Team and has been assigned as one of the Core Physicians who will be working working within Team Canada's Medical Clinic inside the Olympic Village, located in downtown Vancouver.

“I’ll be working as a multi-tasker at the clinic so I’ll be doing a little bit of everything which includes being dispatched to events where they require medical assistance,” said Goudie. “As a medical volunteer, our job is to ensure that there are no health barriers in the way of the athletes who are trying to achieve their goal.”

Dr. Goudie has always had an interest in Sports Medicine and is no stranger to the amateur sports scene. His experience includes Chief Medical Officer for Team Canada at the Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing, Medical Team personnel at the Para Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro and Chief Medical Officer for Team Canada at the World Universiades (World University Games) in Izmir, Turkey.

When he is at home in Barrie, Dr. Goudie separates his time between working in Emergency Medicine at Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie and practicing in the Barrie Chronic Pain Clinic.

Dr. Carson will be spending the majority of his time at the Vancouver Olympics in the UBC Thunderbird Arena, volunteering as a Women’s Hockey Venue Physician.  Dr. Carson is scheduled to work both games and practices. The medical team he belongs to is made up of both physicians and therapists whose role is to support team physicians by assisting them with athlete requests and any medical emergencies that may occur. Dr. Carson considers himself very lucky to be randomly chosen to be staffed for the Gold Medal game that will take place at Canada Hockey Place (General Motors Place).

In preparation for his role in the Olympics, Dr. Carson attended a two-day physician workshop on a simulated mass-casualty exercise held at the Justice Institute of B.C. The workshop was organized by the Canadian Academy of Sports Medicine and the Vancouver Organizing Committee to ensure physicians are prepared for event coverage.

“The workshop was very mentally and physically intense, covering a magnitude of situations that physicians can encounter at the Olympic Games,” said Carson. “Everything from situations that were specific to Olympic injuries, to different techniques dealing with conflict resolution.”

Dr. Carson runs his own family medicine practice in Unionville. Along with his family practice, he also offers sports medicine consultation for other doctors' patients. His favourite aspect of sports medicine is the Injury Management Strategies elective that he teaches to fourth year students and residents at the University of Toronto.

“I’ve always enjoyed every aspect of sports medicine, whether it’s treating sports-related injuries, travelling as a team physician or participating in advocacy work – it’s all very rewarding,” said Carson.
When Dr. Carson is not seeing patients or teaching, he finds time to sit on several advocacy groups. Currently he sits on the Thinkfirst SportSmart Advisory Board and Concussion Education and Awareness Committee. He also chairs the Publication and Selection Committee for the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine.

Dr. Goudie and Dr. Carson are two of many Canadian physicians working at the Olympic Games. In order to be considered as a candidate for medical staff at the Olympics, all applicants must be part of the Canadian Academy of Sports Medicine. Both Dr. Goudie and Dr. Carson were chosen by the Canadian Olympic Committee or the Medical Leadership Vancouver Organizing Committee to be part of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic medical staff.

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