On-mountain ski clinics provide urgent care without leaving the slopes

PARK CITY — What happens when you get hurt on the slopes?

In Utah, thousands of skiers and snowboarders are treated each year at Intermountain Health's seven on-mountain ski clinics, without ever leaving the resort.

"It is an urgent care facility," said Amanda Gamache, resort medicine practice supervisor. "We help patients on the mountain if they get injured, but we also welcome people from the town to come see us as well."

Clinicians encounter a wide range of injuries, from wrist sprains and ACL tears to everyday illnesses such as the common cold or altitude-related sickness.

"We have X-ray here, we can splint people, we can repair lacerations here," said Dr. Emily Miro, a family and sports medicine physician. "Having a clinic on-site allows people to be seen quickly with the least amount of disruption to their ski vacation, so they can go right from the mountain into our clinic, be treated while their families are still right outside and then can go right back to their vacation with minimal disruption."

Providers work closely with ski patrol to determine whether patients should be brought to the clinic or sent directly to the emergency room.

"Some of that triage happens before the patient even comes in," Miro said. "We have ski patrol radios in our office, so we know when someone is coming off the mountain."

That coordination helped Doug Long, who was snowboarding in Park City last weekend when he took a hard fall.

"(It) knocked the wind out of me, and I felt excruciating pain in my wrist," Long said.

Ski patrol transported Long to the Canyons Village Medical Clinic, where providers treated his fractured wrist. Now back home in Delaware, Long said his wrist is healing well and he was able to avoid surgery.

"Instead of being taken out someplace else, they were able to do a procedure there," he said. "Right smack on the slope side, having this top-notch, top-tier care was remarkable."

Intermountain Health currently partners with Deer Valley and Vail Resorts at Park City Mountain Village & Canyons Resort, Snowbasin, Wasatch Peaks Ranch, Woodward and Powder Mountain.

The clinics are open during the winter season from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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