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| Staten Island Chiropractor Dr. Victor Dolan goes to Guadalajara, Mexico for the Pan Am Games |
When his plane lands in Guadalajara, Mexico, Staten Island Chiropractor Dr. Victor Dolan will take his high school Spanish, even more limited knowledge of French, his hands, and enough clothes for ten days through the doors of the Pan American Games' PolyClinic.
The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, is an international multi-sport event that is being held from October 14–30, 2011 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, with some events held in nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, Puerto Vallarta, Lagos de Moreno and Tapalpa. It will be the largest multi-sport event of the year, with approximately 6,000 athletes from 42 nations expected to participate in 36 sports.
As Dr. Victor Dolan enters the Pan Am Games' Central Clinic, populated with MDs, Osteopaths, PTs, Dentists and LMTs, the 55-year-old Staten Island native will create a little piece of history for Chiropractic.
Dr. Dolan will become part of the first team of Chiropractors to ever serve in the main health, restorative, and rehabilitation facility of the quadrennial games that encompass the Americas and the Caribbean.
Staten Island Chiropractor Dr. Victor Dolan will thereby become a symbol for Chiropractic--a practice that traditional medicine has tried to ignore in the past. But it has been well-documentated that a Chiropractor's hands can alleviate allergy symptoms or cure more ills than simple joint pain through spinal and joint manipulation. So the inclusion of a chiropractic team at these games represents a huge step for Dr. Dolan's Chiropractic brethren worldwide.
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| Pan Am Games Guadalajara, Mexico 2011 |
Dr. Dolan points out that the United States has had Chiropractors on staff since 1980. And many countries take Chiropractors with them to the Olympics and other such international events as individual members of their medical teams. For this event the Chiropractic physicians are in the main facility where any one of the 6,000 athletes from 42 countries can use his services at any time, day or night. "I'm not there with the USA," Dr. Dolan said. "I'm there with the Pan Am Games, so I probably won't see American athletes. We have Chiropractors coming in from Singapore, from England, hopefully the best and brightest literally coming from around the world."
The Pan Am Games begin October 14th, and Dr. Victor Dolan will report for duty a full week before the opening ceremonies. The Games will assign him to one of two facilities, where he will be on-call for basically 24 hours. The organizers pay his airline expenses and will house him in the Athlete's Village.
Dr. Dolan says, "You're at the beck and call of the Officials of the Pan Am Games. You've got to be flexible. I won't know where I'm staying until I get there. You have to be ready for anything."
Dr. Dolan says he has been told to "bring nothing but his hands." And those hands have already helped countless athletes to pain relief and increased performance.
Dr. Dolan counts as one of his great successes a young gymnast he helped at the USOC developmental center. Suffering greatly from lower back issues, the athlete had already undergone months of traditional treatment, but still relied on painkillers to get through his workouts and routines. Then Dr. Victor Dolan got his hands on him.
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| Staten Island Chiropractor Dr. Victor Dolan at the Pan Am Games Central Clinic in Guadalajara, Mexico |
As he did for the Olympic athletes in Colorado Springs, Dr. Dolan will work in conjunction with the other medical disciplines in the Pan Am central PolyClinic. "We're told to check our egos at the door," Dr. Dolan said. "I'll be working shoulder-to-shoulder with different disciplines. You learn from them. The doctors I've met at professional venues and competitions are concerned with the patient/athlete--they're not trying to keep secrets from each other. They're not the old-fashioned doctors who had outmoded ideas about Chiropractic. These are cutting-edge healthcare professionals."
Patients may have a complaint that will respond best to a certain healthcare discipline. I've learned much from other professionals. I have learned new techniques that I've taken back to my Staten Island office. Everybody works together."
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| Staten Island Chiropractor Dr. Victor Dolan and Pan Am Games Friend |
"The athletes demanded Chiropractic and threatened to boycott the Olympics," Dr. Dolan tells us. "Since that time, Chiropractors have been on the U.S. Olympic team--officially."
Staten Island Chiropractor Dr. Victor Dolan notes that there have been Chiropractors at the Pan Am games in the past, but this current event is the first time that Chiropractors are in the Central Clinic.
"It is satisfying to know," beams Dr. Victor Dolan, "that Chiropractic is now held in high regard on an international level by both world-class athletes--and healthcare practicioners."
To read more from the Staten Island Advance about Staten Island Chiropractor Dr. Victor Dolan at the Pan Am Games, please CLICK HERE.
Filed by Tom Brandon
Staten Island, NY
