NUHS faculty and students pitch in at Boston Marathon

With 31,670 entrants and 28,284 athletes completing the race, 98.4% of starters completed the formidable challenge–a large-scale crowd by any standard. The world-renowned athletic event required the support of 1,900 medical staff. National University of Health Sciences (NUHS)-Florida had an unprecedented opportunity: Faculty and students served as part of the medical team, a university press release noted.

While chiropractic expertise has been important in the past, this was the first year a chiropractic university was invited to assist at the event, giving students a truly unique learning experience. NUHS faculty members Carlo Guadagno, DC, DACBSP, associate professor, and Vasilios Nenos, DC, DIBCN, Clinical Sciences Instructor, along with 23 NUHS students, many of them members of the Sports Council, lent their leadership and chiropractic skills to support the marathon. Team NUHS served alongside allopathic members of the event’s medical team, giving students a unique vantage point from which to professionally interact with their future healthcare peers.

For the past 13 years, Karson Mui, DC, has supported the Boston Marathon as a chiropractic physician. This year, he served as the Branch Director for Medical Sweep, with responsibility for more than five city blocks of the course, leading 130+ of the 260 medical sweep staff. Thanks to Mui’s invitation last year, this year Guadagno enjoyed his first year serving the Boston Marathon. In addition, his international reputation for serving Olympic teams and committed community outreach may have helped secure the opportunity for NUHS students this year.

“To put things in perspective,” said Mui, “the entire medical staff at the Boston Marathon is 1,900 strong. With our 32 faculty and students, chiropractors and students made up 1.6% of the medical staff this year.”

 “It is wonderful to see our incredibly talented NUHS faculty and amazing team of students and interns participate in an event of this caliber; I could not be more proud,” said Daniel Strauss, DC, Dean of the College of Professional Studies at NUHS – Florida.

“A huge shoutout to our rockstar student leader, Liza Marszalek, who made it all possible,” said Strauss. “Without her hustle and organization, none of this would have happened.” Marszalek, a native of the Boston area, assisted by coordinating team participation and accommodations for the trip.

Most of the injuries students assisted in treating included sprains and strains requiring soft-tissue modalities to treat, but a few athletes had to be treated for overheating, including one assisted by NUHS DC student Dylan Parshall.

Mui commended Parshall personally: “Dylan, I threw you into the fire and you saved a life! That runner would have died if you hadn’t jumped in and blasted through the crowds with a branch director holding c-spine, a division supervisor parting the seas and a team leader assisting on the side.”

Year-round community service