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WITH TROUBLE: Hosps fear spate of XArena injuries |
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There’s no crystal ball at hospital emergency rooms to let doctors
know when they’re about to get bombarded with bleeding, banged-up
patients.But doctors at Capital Health System at Fuld’s trauma center are certain of one thing. When the XArena Motor Sports opens its extreme racing facility on Brunswick Avenue later this year, physicians will likely see a substantial jump in injuries, ranging from broken bones to ruptured spleens to concussions, and maybe worse. Fortunately, Fuld was already planning to double the size of the emergency room in order to cope with what many feel will be a doubling of the number of patients who will soon be arriving at the trauma center. Of course, that means more doctors, more bandages, and more ambulance arrivals when events at XMS really get under way sometime next year. "We feel we’ll have adequate staffing to handle whatever emergency could arise," said George Gennaoui, Capital Health’s Director of Public Relations and Marketing, when asked if Fuld is prepared to meet the challenge. "With our new ER, in fact, we feel the timing of the XArena opening couldn’t be better," he added. But just to make sure, officials with Fuld and XMS have already met several times to discuss how to handle what could be a stressful situation. When asked how many injuries they expect during an averageextreme event, XMS officials would not be precise but admitted the numbers could be substantial. XMS officials also plans to follow strict safety procedures during each race or event so as to protect participants as much as possible. "It’s inherently a dangerous sport even though we take great steps .... to keep injuries to an absolute minimum," said XMS’ Director of Marketing, Ryan Marshall, who hopes to open the new 237,000 square-foot facility in December. "The most common injury for motorcross racers is a broken collar bone, although there are certainly numerous cases of broken arms, legs and fingers." "I’m not going to say that there has never been a death in extreme sports event, but just that they are extremely rare," Marshall said. "We’re not like NASCAR where from time to time you hear about the death of racers," he said. The $25 million one-of-a-kind XMS arena has already broken ground, and will be located between Brunswick Avenue and Route 1 expressway, just around the corner from Fuld. A second site where XMS is building an arena, in Ontario, California, coincidentally has three hospitals located within 15 miles, Marshall added. As for Trenton, XMS plans to host around 40 amateur and five professional motorcross races each year, along with mountain biking competitions, indoor rock climbing, and simulated sky diving in what is being touted as the largest indoor wind tunnel machine in the world. XMS hopes to eventually offer other indoor events such as rodeo and concerts, all of which should keep doctors at the Fuld trauma center on their toes. "(The XArena) is a great thing for the City of Trenton, and it will be a great thing for us," Gennaoui said. In fact, Fuld’s trauma director recently met with several XMS staff members to discuss ways of keeping arena staff members up to date on latest medical procedures, Gennaoui said. "Certainly they had to locate relatively close to a major hospital because of the nature of their sports," Gennaoui said. "We want the riders to stay healthy, but if they should have injuries, we ... feel adequately sure we’ll be able to handle whatever comes our way," he added. As for safety, XMS’ Marshall said all extreme participants are required to wear the latest safety gear designed for their particular sport. That means riders will likely be wearing $400 helmets, along with knee braces, safety boots, eye and hand protection. "Each participant can easily be wearing $2,000 in safety gear," Marshall said. "Of course that’s not to say we won’t have injuries, but we’ll probably be sending people over to the ER ...for any slight injury or mishap, just for a precautionary checkup," he said. "That could boost the statistics." Ironically, the president of the XMS, Clayton Keeler, said he expects to have a strong relationship with ER physicians because he himself broke several bones during his career inmotorcross racing. When asked to provide adefinition for extreme sports, XMS officials said they can be any type of competitive event which carries an element of skill, danger and excitement, such as free-style skateboarding, rock climbing, sky-diving, wind-surfing, and others which have not yet been invented. When finished, the three-story Trenton facility will have two separate motorcross/race tracks, a multi-purpose area, a 7,500 seat glass enclosed spectator viewing area on the second floor, a virtual reality game room, a brew pub, and a 5,000-square foot pro shop. XMS is also building a restaurant on the third floor, and could eventually have an upscale nightclub at the site, organizers said. |
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