First responders ready to jump into action during Rodeo

The men and women who compete in the California Rodeo Salinas are top notch athletes, but there’s always a chance they could get hurt. There’s a team of first responders ready to jump into action if anything should go wrong.

Orthopedic Surgeon Bert Tardieu has seen it all in his 17 years volunteering with the Rodeo’s Medical Committee. From the usual bumps and bruises to more extreme injuries, like someone who had to hold up his own head after breaking his neck. But the most common injuries he sees involve a contestant’s shoulder and knees.

“They dismount in all different directions and all different manners and they’ll land on a single leg,” Dr. Tardieu said. “And they’ll twist their knee, they’ll damage their knee. It’s probably the most common.”

He and other first responders like Scott Houchin will watch guard this week, standing feet away from the arena floor, ready to sweep in and take contestants to a makeshift ER clinic under the Hansen Pavilion.

“Lucky enough those are rare events but this is a high risk sport,” Houchin said. “There aren’t many sports where you have to sit on a 2,000 pound contestant and you have to hang on for eight seconds.”

Unfortunately a lot of these athletes may already be at risk of injury.

“It’s easy to compound one injury on another, on another, on another,” Dr. Tardieu explained, “And by the time we see them, they’re already on the edge of being injured.”
From medical triage to the Justin Boots Sports Medicine trailer which offers physical therapy.

“Physical therapists,” Houchin explains, “Chiropractors, they have some x-ray capabilities in there. But it’s the team work between the two of them that makes it a functioning level. When they have a question, they come ask us. When we have a question, we ask them.

The care isn’t just for the athletes but the fans as well. Many of their ailments include minor injuries from falls or existing medical conditions. Houchin says there will be paramedics staged throughout the arena floor and in the grandstands to respond to any emergency.

It’s important to note, many of these first responders are volunteering their time.

“California Rodeo Salinas takes pride in putting on one of the best and safest rodeos in the country,” said Mandy Linquist, marketing manager for the California Rodeo Salinas. “The team of medical volunteers from Salinas Valley Memorial are an important element of the environment we create at the rodeo. We appreciate their dedication and the donation of their time and talents.”