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What is Healthy Athletes?
The Healthy Athletes initiative is dedicated to providing health services and education to Special Olympics athletes, and changing the way health systems interact with people with intellectual disabilities. Through free health screenings, training for healthcare professionals, and evaluation of the health status of people with intellectual disability, Healthy Athletes has become a powerful public health organization worldwide.
For more than 10 years, Special Olympics has been serving athletes by offering free health screenings and health information at local, regional and World Games. In the process, Special Olympics has become the largest global public health organization dedicated to serving people with intellectual disabilities.
By listening to athletes at events and conducting research over many years, Special Olympics leaders became aware of the lack of quality health care for people with intellectual disabilities and found it unacceptable. We found that people with intellectual disabilities have a 40 percent greater risk for health issues, and that health care professionals are not trained in or experienced with caring for people with intellectual disabilities.
Called into action, we began to explore ways to help using Special Olympics’ unique global reach and access to people with intellectual disabilities. The result was the launch of the Healthy Athletes® initiative in 1997. Today, Healthy Athletes provides health screenings free of charge at Special Olympics competitions. Offered in a welcoming, fun environment, these screenings educate athletes on healthy lifestyle choices and identify problems that may need additional follow-up.
Healthy Athletes Globally
Healthy Athletes has a presence in more than 100 countries. Its influence is evident with more than 76,000 healthcare professionals trained, free health screenings provided to more than 700,000 athletes, and 50,000 free pairs of eyeglasses given to athletes. And it is just beginning – Healthy Athletes continues to grow each year with help from a global network of volunteers, in-kind donations and other financial support.
Healthy Athletes in Massachusetts
Healthy Athletes is a global movement with local roots. In 1994, Dr. Steve Perlman, Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine Professor and longtime advocate for the treatment of people with intellectual disabilities, founded Special Smiles® after working with the Shriver Family as they struggled to find adequate dental care for Rosemary Kennedy, sister to U.S. President John F. Kennedy, because of her intellectual disability. Dr. Perlman’s concerns about health disparities for people with disabilities, highlighted by Rosemary Kennedy, prompted the research and studies that then became Healthy Athletes®.
Since Dr. Perlman screened his first athlete in the early 1990’s, Special Olympics Massachusetts (“SOMA”) has worked to expand the availability of Healthy Athletes® screenings. Currently, Healthy Athletes® has a presence at almost all of SOMA’s athletic events and free screenings are offered in five of the seven Healthy Athletes® Disciplines.
In December of 2008, SOMA and the University of Massachusetts Medical School signed a groundbreaking Affiliation Agreement that created one of the first formal relationships between a disability services agency and a school of medicine. With this relationship, and with the help of dedicated volunteers, SOMA’s Healthy Athletes® movement is rapidly expanding.
The Healthy Athletes Disciplines
Healthy Athletes currently offers health screenings in seven areas: Fit Feet (podiatry), FUNFitness (physical therapy), Health Promotion (better health and well-being), Healthy Hearing (audiology), MedFest (sports physical exam), Opening Eyes (vision) and Special Smiles (dentistry).
Fit Feet (podiatry)
Fit Feet was developed in collaboration with the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine to evaluate and screen foot and ankle deformities of athletes and to provide education in proper footwear and care of the feet and toes.
FUNfitness (physical therapy)
Originally developed by the American Physical Therapy Association, FUNfitness provides fitness screening and education services. Athlete flexibility, functional strength, balance and aerobic condition are assessed and physical therapy professionals advise on components of good fitness programs for risk prevention and make recommendations for optimal function in sports training and competition.
Health Promotion (nutrition, bone health, smoking cessation, sun safety)
Health Promotion focuses on educating athletes about healthy lifestyles and the facilitation of healthy choices. Because people with intellectual disabilities frequently have medical conditions such as heart disease, obesity and diabetes, and they tend to develop these conditions at earlier stages of life, Health Promotion mainly focuses on nutrition and exercise, as well as bone health, smoking cessation and sun safety using interactive educational activities and motivational information to encourage behavior change.
Healthy Hearing (audiology)
Certified audiologists supervise Healthy Hearing screenings, which provide external ear canal inspection, evoked otoacoustic emissions screening, tympanometry and pure tone screening for those with identified need. Healthy Hearing assesses athlete hearing, and reports to coaches and caregivers if any follow-up care is needed. Referrals may include earwax removal, further testing of middle ear problems or management of hearing loss. Individual molded ear plugs and referrals for hearing aids are also offered at many Healthy Hearing screening events.
MedFest® (sports physicals and general check ups)
MedFest allows Special Olympics Programs to conduct standard sports physicals, which are required for participation in Special Olympics events. These screenings permit new athletes to register while also assuring the continued eligibility of existing athletes already participating in the yearround sports training and competitions. MedFest has yielded an increase in athlete recruitment, retention and participation.
Special Olympics-Lions Clubs Opening Eyes® (vision)
A global partnership between Special Olympics and Lions Clubs International, an organization dedicated to global blindness prevention for more than 80 years, brings vision screenings to athletes worldwide. At Opening Eyes events, Special Olympics athletes receive extensive vision and eye health tests; refraction for those requiring further screening; prescription eyeglasses, if needed; prescription protective sports eyewear, if appropriate; and referral for follow-up care.
Special Smiles® (dental)
Special Smiles offers dental screenings, health education and prevention services, and refers athletes to potential sources of treatment and follow-up care. At a Special Smiles event, dental professionals provide oral screenings; oral health education and personal prevention products; and individually fitted sports mouth guards, if needed.
Contact Information
For more information about Healthy Athletes, please contact George Kent via e-mail or by phone at 508-517-5002 or Stephanie Savarese via e-mail or by phone at 978-750-0996.
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