Lynchburg doctor earned Olympic cred while working in Beijing

By Cynthia Pegram
Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: September 9, 2008

Although life is pretty tame in Lynchburg compared to Beijing, a Centra Emergency Department physician says, “It’s good to be home.”

Dr. Chris Thomson spent most of August in Beijing working for NBC as part of the team staffing a 24-hour clinic. Their job was to make sure the thousands of network employees covering the event were healthy enough to keep the world tuned to the XXIX Olympics. And should any catastrophic events occur, to be ready to provide care.

Except for the opening and closing ceremonies, Thomson had pretty easy access to many of the events when he wasn’t working the 12-hour shifts. The clinic was in the International Broadcasting Center, the central area for all media, radio and TV, and right in the center of the Green Zone where the action took place.

The Olympic spirit was wonderful, he said, and he was impressed by the Chinese people both individually and as a group.

“They are very patriotic, and incredibly excited about having the Olympics, and proud of their country,” he said.

Here’s what he had to say on a variety of post-Olympic topics:

Getting around Beijing:

Thomson doesn’t speak Mandarin Chinese. If he was in a cab with a driver who didn’t speak any English, Thomson was able to draw on colleagues back in the clinic who were Chinese — and had cell phones.

He’d call one of the doctors, hand the phone to the cab driver, and then, “get to where I needed to be.”

On the job:

Thomson saw a steady flow of patients at the clinic. Although most problems were relatively mild, they had to be treated quickly because patients had to be back on the job.

Where to eat:

Thomson most often ate imported American food in the commissary, but was able to get out and about to sample a few of the 40,000 restaurant options in Beijing. However, he said, one regret is that a plan fell through to dine at a restaurant that serves scorpions.

Air quality:

He’d heard a lot about the air quality, and it was pretty bad when they arrived, he said, but much better as the weeks passed. The air was not bad enough to cause trouble breathing when walking outside, he said. “It was like a foggy day.”

One day, after a day of rain, for the first time, “I could see that Beijing was surrounded by mountains,” he said.

Human rights:

While much about China’s repression of human rights was discussed on U.S. television, during the Olympics it wasn’t something often heard in China.

Thomson recalls a Tom Brokaw section on China on “Today,” pre-recorded, but broadcast from the set at about 7 p.m. for a 7 a.m. airing in the U.S. Along the periphery of the set were Chinese people, and flat-screen TVs showing the program were all around.

Thomson said the segment showed the oppressions of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. “They were shocked,” he said. “They don’t see this, ever.”

He remembers thinking how bizarre it must have been for those Chinese citizens, “seeing this live ‘Today’ show, showing something Chinese don’t see — criticism of their government. What a strange forum to see that in.”

Thomson said that the Chinese he met were very proud of the accomplishments with the Olympics. While they realized they have less freedom than other countries, they think, “things are getting better as they come out of this isolated stage” in their history, he said.

Going back?

He’d like to work at the next Olympics, but as a physician who treats the athletes. Achieving that post requires a demanding process, and one that takes two to four years to work into, he said.

Thomson, who is a specialist in emergency medicine and also associate medical director of Centra’s department of emergency medicine, isn’t sure he can make that kind of ongoing time commitment.

“Potentially, I would love to,” said Thomson. “Whether it will happen or not, I don’t know.”