For sports fanatics, the lull between football season and baseball season can be unbearable. Fortunately, every four years, there is a reprieve for a few weeks during the Winter Olympics. It's a time when sports-starved men find themselves staying up late to watch women's ice skating--although they'll never admit it.

The fact is that the Olympics are truly special. They help bring nations together in the interest of sportsmanship and have always been a beacon of world unity.

This month, the 2006 Winter Olympic Games will be held in Torino, Italy. Staging the Olympics is no minor endeavor, and the planning and organization that go into the games are something to marvel at--maybe as much as the athletic feats in competitions.

Of significant concern to Olympic organizers is the issue of public health and safety. Without a doubt, the games are among the largest gatherings of people to occur anywhere in the world. During the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the six counties surrounding the city experienced a daily surge of 100,000 people during the 17-day run of the games. Obviously, a daily flood of people puts a strain on the normal resources of an area and creates health and safety issues.

To address both of these areas, the Utah Department of Public Health teamed with two other state agencies, the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Agriculture and Food. In addition, the health departments from the six counties where the games were held were involved.

According to officials from the Utah Department of Public Health, they focused on five major areas of public health responsibility during the Winter Olympics:

1. Emergency Medical Services--This included making sure that the EMS capacity was sufficient to meet the needs of each venue and the community. The department coordinated emergency communications, implemented mutual aid agreements among all levels of jurisdiction and did disaster planning.

2. Environmental and Food Safety Regulation--This included the provision of the necessary resources to inspect and enforce food safety regulations as they pertained to food preparation and service, drinking water, air quality, solid and hazardous waste, and waste water.

3. Disease Surveillance and Outbreak Response--Disease surveillance had to be conducted and coordinated across multiple jurisdictions and included notifiable disease surveillance, syndromic surveillance, sentinel site surveillance and injury surveillance.

4. Public Information and Health Promotion--During the Salt Lake City Olympics, there was significant concern about increased air pollution. The organizers had to respond to help reduce the pollution levels and to inform the public and Olympic participants of any potential dangers.

5. Event Operation and Disaster Preparedness--This included the identification of potential threats and the implementation of plans to deal with them. Preparation included conducting mock drills and exercises.

Indeed, public health and safety is a top priority of any host city and its preparation for and response to threats is critical to the success of the games. With so many people from so many different countries converging in one location, the potential for a significant event impacting public health and safety is real.

As you watch the 2006 Winter Olympics, take a moment to be grateful to those in the Italian medical and public health community who have planned for every contingency and who are prepared to deal with emergencies so that all of us may enjoy the Olympic experience.

Perry Cain is public affairs/communications director for the Orange County Medical Association. He can be reached at 714/978-1160 or pcain@ocma.org.