PART 1: Medical Interview - MA unplugged
Chris Koch interviewing MA / 26.08.2005
We asked MA to tell us a little about herself.
MA is not necessarily my preferred name – it’s just that few people can actually pronounce my name!
hmmm...hate talking about myself...I’ll talk about Medic MA...I mean, does anybody really want to know my real name? But here goes...I\'m known as MA, NOT \"Ma\" (that\'s cause for death) but M.A. Actually it\'s kind of evolved into \"heyM.A.\". I live in the fabulous, amazing, and beautiful city of Vancouver - not that I brag about my city or anything. I work as a Talent Manager - for Actors in film and TV. And this is the first interview I’ve agreed to do in 8 years – in my line of work, you get misquoted a lot. But I think you’re cool enough not to do that. Right?...right?
A Talent Manager? Any parallels with working for actors and working with adventure racers - ie – big babies perhaps?
Ooooh, good question! SO not touching it! Well...let’s just say that all the years I’ve put into showbiz have indeed contributed to my being able to read people, deal with ornery people, negotiate, think fast on my feet, plan and organize. And I think it’s made me fearless in terms of what I think, and doing what needs to be done.
Can you give us a little background on how you got involved in working medical at adventure races?
Well, it\'s really all Nathan Fa\'ave\'s fault (ed: famous New Zealand racer)! I didn\'t even know what AR was until the night I was flipping channels and came across EcoChallenge:New Zealand, and I thought cool, an ecological programme on NZ (where I\'d been to before). So I started to watch, and I thought OK...this is crazy, these people are crazy... then I watched Nathan bonking but still descending on ropes, and I thought, wow, really crazy. And then, the defining moment for me, when Nathan\'s team realized that another team was basically following their hard navigation work by following their lights, so they switched off their headlamps and RAN down the scree slope in the pitch black!
That was it - I had to know more!
Looked at the website - got re-routed to EcoChallenge Canadian Championships, applied as a volunteer, checked it out first hand and decided that the Med Team was where it was at. And now, three years later, I STILL think you\'re all crazy, but I love y\'all. (ed: and we love you!).
Where has the sport allowed you to travel?
This is the best part. I get to see remote areas that I would never think of going to and, in some cases would not be allowed to go to on my own. I get to camp in areas that no civies are allowed to – that’s wicked! I get to go to small towns that would never make it on my personal vacation list i.e. Atikokan or Cornerbrook.I\'ve been to Panorama, Golden, Vernon, Nelson, Nordegg AB, Mountain Aire AB, Mattawa ON, Atikokan ON, Sault Saint Marie ON, Cornerbrook NFLD, Wa Wa (a personal fave), Blenheim New Zealand, Dunedin New Zealand, Orcas Is. and parts of Washington State, Blue Mtn ON, Monte St. Marie QC.
Without giving names, what injuries do you see a lot of?
Dehydration, dehydration, oh, did I mention dehydration? Bee stings, road rash, what I call \"racer ruckus\" and dehydration.
So what is “racer ruckus�
I have done a fair amount of research about what happens to you crazy people when you race! It seems to me that racers think their bodies can take anything – but they can’t, and when push comes to shove, your body will stop you or at least slow you down. Most racers train in segments. Let’s say you go paddling, you may decide to do a 4hr paddle starting at midnight just to get used to paddling in the dark. Great, but it’s still not paddling after biking for 60 miles on bumpy back roads and then trekking for 30 miles across mountain ranges, thick brush and through swamps, right? Few racers actually train expedition style – few people can afford the time.So look at what I’ve just put you through……..heat, cold, day, night, serious elevation changes, mucky swamps, sweating, freezing, heart rate changes, lack of food and water, too many electrolytes or not enough – it’s dizzying ! You’re causing a ruckus within yourselves. Your body, however, is much more used to 3 squares and 8 hrs. in a warm bed.So your body slows you down – it’ll make you uncomfortably warmer or cooler, it’ll make you throw up or have diarrhoea or both at the same time! It’ll make you nauseous, it’ll strip you of energy, it might even make you cry and feel defeated. It’ll do whatever it has to, to protect itself and make you stop until you rebalance yourself.
That’s racer ruckus. I’ve had people tell me they think they’re dying, I’ve had people rethink their whole lives in front of me ‘cos they’re wondering what the heck they’re doing if it feels this bad\'! It doesn’t happen to everyone. I believe it happens at a small degree to a large percentage of racers, and at a serious degree to an unfortunate few.
What have you seen that you haven’t expected?
Intense bullying of the female in the team to the point where she breaks down - usually in my Med tent. It makes me really, really, really mad. I haven\'t seen it in any Canadian teams (which is good \'cos we\'re far too cool and laid back to be so nasty plus I would kick Canadian butts extra hard!) but 2 American teams, 2 European ones and 1 Asian one - and, yes, I took care of the girl and had words with the guys in all cases - even when it required an interpreter. There is no need for that kind of crap, y\'know?
Other than the pure pleasure of pulling off racers’ two-day swamp socks, what fringe benefits do you find in working these events?
The challenges - we have them too! I\'ve been a solitary medic in a remote spot - a little scary at night when you don\'t have someone with you to do bear watch shifts...keeping my skills up, the travelling, and helping save someone\'s race - it\'s all good. I\'ve learnt a lot about the natural world and myself since I started doing this. Oh, and I’m no longer paralysed with fear of bees! Talk about getting over something!
O.K. I’m looking for a little dirt here! I’m familiar with the “regionalized†medical requirements. How is it working with other medical staff from a variety of training backgrounds?
Ahhh, another interesting question. This is just my opinion and I hope I don’t get blacklisted from here to Timbuktou!
I’m so over the young buck never-been-out-of-the-city ER Doc who thinks he knows everything ‘cos he’s so hot – well, Mother Nature doesn’t give a hoot – she’ll give you a whack AND laugh about it ! You need to know where you are and what you’re dealing with. Sometimes they’re snotty to us non-doctor types. But I just keep to myself and do my thing. Dunedin, New Zealand was the first time I was paired with a Doctor. I was wondering how he would react to being partnered with me. But he was so cool. He came right out and said, “I can’t remember any first aid or pre-hospital stuff.â€And I said, “That’s cool. I’ll do all that and call you for Doctor stuff or a second opinion – OK?â€. It was great. I showed him some Wilderness techniques and he taught me a little about medications. Now that’s a confident Doc with no ego.
My point being, Doctors are obviously great to have but if some of them have giant egos, no clue about Adventure Racing, don’t have any wilderness or first aid, or don’t know how to deal with blisters or lacerations or strapping in a way that HELPS the racer continue to race then...
I mean I’ve seen Doctors and nurses fix a blister with literally an inch of padding – well, now the shoe doesn’t fit as well and that racer is going to get 4 more blisters. I’ve been left in charge of a TA with 2 nurses who flat out refused to be left with no Doctor to command them...whatever... my personal fave was listening to a young buck ER Doc (his first race) lecture a racer (a really seasoned one who just came in to get his forearm strapped for a long paddle) about how he should be resting and not paddling! The racer’s face was so “does not computeâ€! Yes, don’t worry, I ran after him and we had a little clandestine strapping session.
Then there are the way cool types who just sit around looking, well, way cool. But I’ve also worked with first timer First Aiders who want to learn – and that’s great. Paramedics with Wilderness - also very, very cool – pretty much the best of both worlds. Last year at the PQ, I got to meet and work with the High Priest Guru of All Things Feet – John Vonhof – that was wonderful.I think AR medics need to realize that racers are SO focused on racing that they forget that they had a big fall off their bike or that they got stung 40 times 2 hrs.ago.
I say hello and try to at least visually check out every team at every TA.
CARA is working on safety guidelines for the sport in Canada. What is your perspective on this?
Hmmm...don’t have one ‘cos I didn’t know! But I would sure love to participate. It’s a good thing. This is a big, diverse sport. I mean, you guys are like Olympic athletes X 4 in one body! Hopefully they will include us in the discussions...
What would you consider to be the most important skills a medical volunteer should be bringing to the table?
Leaving the ego at home? But seriously... I just worked RTN Nelson last weekend. I put the team together. It was pretty much my dream team. Two Doctors, a Chiropractor who’s also a soft tissue specialist and three Wilderness of varying degrees of training. All I was missing was a Wilderness Paramedic. There was team respect. One of the Docs is a racer, the other is a Medical Director and avid outdoorsman. Between all of us we were capable of Response requiring rope skills, hiking in, marine and good old basic backcountry emergency stuff.
I was able to put the ropes medics where needed, the hikers where needed, the Docs where things like stitches would most likely be needed. So training plus something outdoorsy is great. I’m not saying you won’t get into a Med Team if your skill level is Standard First Aid. I’m also not saying that you’ll get in just because
you’re a Doctor.
In response to the question? Research and humanity. It’s about loving the sport and understanding what can happen to racers and being ready for that without the benefit of an ER, and being aware that it’s the wilderness. It’s about helping a racer when it’s pelting rain and you’re PMS-ing and your Med tent is flooded and you need to get his temperature back up ‘cos,
damn it, he wants to race!
So what is next for you? Where are you going? Where do you want to go?
RTN Champs...somewhere in the East that’s not on my personal vacation list! I’m hoping to do at least three Expedition Races next year – I miss them ! I’m hoping that between Hawaii, Australia, PQ and the RTN Extreme (which is going to be in BC, right Geoff? Hint, hint...) I’ll get to do that.
Of course, I’m still looking for the race that require Medics on horseback...sigh...oh and Africa ! Somebody please ask me to work a race in Africa!
So is there any chance of racing or being a race director?
Racing? Where in this interview did you get the impression that I might be crazy?!?!
Race Director? You know...I’m pretty devoted to the care of my racers. And yes, when I’m at a race, you are my racers.
Peace, love, drink water
MA
SleepMonsters
