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Dr. Tom Hackett with Steadman Hawkins, an avid snowboarder and medical director for the Mountain Guide Association.
FRISCO — The climbing guide called on a satellite phone from halfway around the world.
A woman on a trip in a remote area of China broke her thigh bone and as the guide described what had happened, Dr. Tom Hackett, of the Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Summit County, talked them through the situation from his home. He told them how to stabilize the injury and fought with Chinese doctors in the area to make sure they didn’t touch her while he organized a plane to Hong Kong for surgery.
She had to get out of there, Hackett said. “The stuff they were going to do was back from the Ming Dynasty. ... It became like a diplomatic issue,” he continued.
Hackett is the medical director for the American Mountain Guide Association and a world-renowned orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine doctor, who if left in the middle of the desert has the skills to survive.
In fact, he has taught military personnel survival techniques, has worked as a climbing guide, rescued people from deadly circumstances and now operates on famous athletes.
<b>Bones and emergency</b>
Hackett started out working in archeology. He put together displays at museums and made tools. At the same time, he taught desert survival and led climbs in Southern Utah and Wyoming.
The more he became involved in climbing around the world — in Bolivia, Peru, Nepal, Europe and Saudi Arabia, to name a few — the more interested in emergency medicine he became. So, Hackett became a wilderness EMT and did search and rescue in Wyoming and Utah.
“Doing more search and rescue, I got interested more in medicine,” said Hackett who would get patients out, stabilized and to a helicopter or emergency room.
But, “I felt like I was starting something and not finishing it,” he added.
It was that feeling that led him back to college. And despite a premed advisor at the University of Wyoming telling him he would fail, he made it through, paying his way by working as a carpenter.
From there, he went on to Tufts University in Massachusetts, became involved in orthopaedics and worked with college hockey teams until moving to Los Angeles for additional training in sports surgery.
Once he received his medical degree, Hackett went to western Nepal to practice — a truly rewarding experience he says.
One woman in particular that he will never forget lived a day-and-a-half walk away from the clinic and came to him for a minor procedure. Afterward, she was so thankful she made the trip a second time to bring a present.
“She walked three full days just to give me a cucumber,” Hackett said, remembering the amazing moment.
<b>Research and injury prevention</b>
Hackett has been with the Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Summit County for about three years. He does emergency work at St. Anthony Summit Medical Center and specializes in shoulders, elbows and knees. He travels with the Colorado Rockies, U.S. Snowboard Team and is a consultant for the L.A. Dodgers.
Just last week, a snowboarder flew in from Austria for surgery with Hackett at the clinic in Frisco.
And in addition to treatment, he is doing biomechanical research to learn how to prevent and better repair shoulder injuries. The research, through the Steadman Hawkins Research Foundation, focuses on the biological side of injuries, looking at how to create an environment where the injury can heal faster, better and stronger, Hackett explained.
For now, the best way to prevent shoulder injuries is to strengthen shoulders in the preseason, he said. This is the time of year for climbers and kayakers to work on the muscles in their shoulders to develop more neuromuscular control.
<b>Giving back to the guide community</b>
From working with baseball players to climbers, Hackett has the background to offer effective treatment.
Part of working with the American Mountain Guide Association involves developing medical protocols for guides before trips. Also, anytime someone gets hurt, he can walk them through proper procedure over a satellite phone.
“A lot of it is decision making,” Hackett said, adding that with some injuries people can continue on and other times they need medical attention right away.
One man who was sailing around the world by himself called about an infected elbow. Hackett talked him through opening his own elbow to get the pus out.
Since Hackett has been out in the field with these situations, he knows what it can be like.
A rescue mission in Utah where a woman broke her leg just a couple miles from a trailhead is a reminder of that. She was with 10 people so Hackett brought in ropes and equipment they could use to get her out. But the group was so weak from not eating that he had to call a helicopter to get her out.
And while he no longer works search and rescue, he is glad to help from his role as medical director.
“I want to give back to the community I came from,” Hackett said. “I feel really lucky.”
A woman on a trip in a remote area of China broke her thigh bone and as the guide described what had happened, Dr. Tom Hackett, of the Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Summit County, talked them through the situation from his home. He told them how to stabilize the injury and fought with Chinese doctors in the area to make sure they didn’t touch her while he organized a plane to Hong Kong for surgery.
She had to get out of there, Hackett said. “The stuff they were going to do was back from the Ming Dynasty. ... It became like a diplomatic issue,” he continued.
Hackett is the medical director for the American Mountain Guide Association and a world-renowned orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine doctor, who if left in the middle of the desert has the skills to survive.
In fact, he has taught military personnel survival techniques, has worked as a climbing guide, rescued people from deadly circumstances and now operates on famous athletes.
<b>Bones and emergency</b>
Hackett started out working in archeology. He put together displays at museums and made tools. At the same time, he taught desert survival and led climbs in Southern Utah and Wyoming.
The more he became involved in climbing around the world — in Bolivia, Peru, Nepal, Europe and Saudi Arabia, to name a few — the more interested in emergency medicine he became. So, Hackett became a wilderness EMT and did search and rescue in Wyoming and Utah.
“Doing more search and rescue, I got interested more in medicine,” said Hackett who would get patients out, stabilized and to a helicopter or emergency room.
But, “I felt like I was starting something and not finishing it,” he added.
It was that feeling that led him back to college. And despite a premed advisor at the University of Wyoming telling him he would fail, he made it through, paying his way by working as a carpenter.
From there, he went on to Tufts University in Massachusetts, became involved in orthopaedics and worked with college hockey teams until moving to Los Angeles for additional training in sports surgery.
Once he received his medical degree, Hackett went to western Nepal to practice — a truly rewarding experience he says.
One woman in particular that he will never forget lived a day-and-a-half walk away from the clinic and came to him for a minor procedure. Afterward, she was so thankful she made the trip a second time to bring a present.
“She walked three full days just to give me a cucumber,” Hackett said, remembering the amazing moment.
<b>Research and injury prevention</b>
Hackett has been with the Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Summit County for about three years. He does emergency work at St. Anthony Summit Medical Center and specializes in shoulders, elbows and knees. He travels with the Colorado Rockies, U.S. Snowboard Team and is a consultant for the L.A. Dodgers.
Just last week, a snowboarder flew in from Austria for surgery with Hackett at the clinic in Frisco.
And in addition to treatment, he is doing biomechanical research to learn how to prevent and better repair shoulder injuries. The research, through the Steadman Hawkins Research Foundation, focuses on the biological side of injuries, looking at how to create an environment where the injury can heal faster, better and stronger, Hackett explained.
For now, the best way to prevent shoulder injuries is to strengthen shoulders in the preseason, he said. This is the time of year for climbers and kayakers to work on the muscles in their shoulders to develop more neuromuscular control.
<b>Giving back to the guide community</b>
From working with baseball players to climbers, Hackett has the background to offer effective treatment.
Part of working with the American Mountain Guide Association involves developing medical protocols for guides before trips. Also, anytime someone gets hurt, he can walk them through proper procedure over a satellite phone.
“A lot of it is decision making,” Hackett said, adding that with some injuries people can continue on and other times they need medical attention right away.
One man who was sailing around the world by himself called about an infected elbow. Hackett talked him through opening his own elbow to get the pus out.
Since Hackett has been out in the field with these situations, he knows what it can be like.
A rescue mission in Utah where a woman broke her leg just a couple miles from a trailhead is a reminder of that. She was with 10 people so Hackett brought in ropes and equipment they could use to get her out. But the group was so weak from not eating that he had to call a helicopter to get her out.
And while he no longer works search and rescue, he is glad to help from his role as medical director.
“I want to give back to the community I came from,” Hackett said. “I feel really lucky.”
<b>Seeing more fractures, doctors able to gauge injuries by weather</b>
As lifts open to more aggressive terrain, more patients arrive at the Steadman Hawkins Clinic.
Previously, extreme terrain was regulated by those who could hike to it and “now advanced intermediate skiers from Oklahoma can get there,” said Dr. Tom Hackett, orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine doctor the with the clinic.
“I think it’s great, but people have to have a heads-up when they go in there,” he continued. And the terrain parks are another area riders should have a heightened level of caution because they “eat people alive.”
This year, has been “rough for fractures” because the snow has been hard, Hackett said.
“On powder days, people don’t break things,” he said, adding those are the days they see ligament injuries.
Lory Pounder can be reached at (970) 668-4628, or at lpounder@summitdaily.com.
As lifts open to more aggressive terrain, more patients arrive at the Steadman Hawkins Clinic.
Previously, extreme terrain was regulated by those who could hike to it and “now advanced intermediate skiers from Oklahoma can get there,” said Dr. Tom Hackett, orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine doctor the with the clinic.
“I think it’s great, but people have to have a heads-up when they go in there,” he continued. And the terrain parks are another area riders should have a heightened level of caution because they “eat people alive.”
This year, has been “rough for fractures” because the snow has been hard, Hackett said.
“On powder days, people don’t break things,” he said, adding those are the days they see ligament injuries.
Lory Pounder can be reached at (970) 668-4628, or at lpounder@summitdaily.com.
