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Healthy Athletes at World Games: Helping Athletes Achieve their BestOn June 25, the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games will open at Kallimarmaron Panathenaikon Stadium in Athens, Greece. These World Games will bring together 7,000 athletes from more than 170 countries to compete in 21 sports. In Greece, the land of “fair play” where the true values of competition were born, the talents and skills of the athletes of Special Olympics will remind us what the World Games are really about, where all participants are winners in their struggle for respect, inclusion and unity. Healthy Athletes will play a vital role at these Games in ensuring that our athletes can be in top shape for competition on the playing field, as well as after they return home. Healthy Athletes will screen approximately 70% of competing athletes during the 9 days of the Games. We know that almost half will have obvious untreated tooth decay visible with the naked eye, and that approximately 15% will report having some kind of mouth pain at the time of their screenings. A quarter will fail hearing tests, and over a third will be obese. Approximately 10% will report never having had an eye exam. Our athletes will be competing on a world stage in pain and with health concerns that have not previously been addressed and which prevent them from achieving their personal best performance.
Read Darcie's complete column...
Get Regular Updates from World Games on Healthy Athletes' Social Media
Please join us virtually at the Special Olympics World Summer Games Athen 2011 in the coming weeks by visiting the Healthy Athletes flickr page and the Healthy Athletes home on Facebook: www.facebook.com/special.olympics.healthy.athletes. We will be posting new material daily during the Games, and as always, you can post your photos, stories, videos, and other Healthy Athletes material, or send your stories to khejlik@specialolympics.org so we can share them.
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| FEATURE ARTICLE |
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Team USA Athlete Loses 115 lbs in Quest to be Healthier
For years, Janelle Evrard, a Special Olympics athlete from Massachusetts, felt embarrassed, physically ill, and disappointed in herself due to her weight. Today, however, a healthier and more confident Janelle is competing in Bocce at the World Summer Games and achieving her best -- in sports and in life.
Read this complete article...
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| ATHLETES CORNER |
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Global Messenger Kristina O’Neal Shares Her Story at World Games
 Special Olympics swimmer Kristina O’Neal from Missouri drastically improved her time in the backstroke, gained self confidence, and improved her relationships with her teammates last year by visiting Healthy Athletes and receiving free custom, prescription goggles. Now, she is telling her success story to others, including athletes, family members, and other fans at the World Summer Games in Athens. Hear from Kristina in her own voice...
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| POLICY NEWS |
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Eunice Kennedy Shriver Act Introduced into both Chambers of U.S. Congress
The Eunice Kennedy Shriver Act (H.R. 2152) was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressmen Hoyer and King on June 13, just weeks after being similarly introduced in the Senate by Senators Harkin and Blunt. This legislation, which reauthorizes the Special Olympics Sport and Empowerment Act, gives government agencies the ability to provide grants to Special Olympics in support of its programs. It is the basis for the millions of dollars in support that Healthy Athletes receives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Read more on the website of Rep. Hoyer... Contact your members of Congress and tell them to support the EKS Act...
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| POLICY NEWS |
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Findings from First Ever World Report on Disability Confirms Special Olympics Data Released June 9 by the World Health Organization and the World Bank, this groundbreaking report includes many eye-opening findings but some will come as no surprise to people familiar with Special Olympics research. The report states that:
- There are over one billion people with disabilities in the world (Approximately 15% of the world's population); Between 110-190 million experience very significant difficulties.
- People with disabilities face widespread barriers in accessing services (health, education, employment, etc...)
- Disability disproportionately affects vulnerable populations.
The report also gives several recommendations, including adopting policies to increase inclusion and boost funding for both programs and research. Read the two-page factsheet about the report... Read the entire report... |
| IN THE SPOTLIGHT |
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Bank of America Provides $100k for Healthy Athletes at World Games  As part of a new, three-year $1 million contribution to support Special Olympics, Bank of America announced in June that it will supply $100,000 to help bring Healthy Athletes to the World Summer Games in Athens. Bank of America will also sponsor the Special Olympics Team USA delegation as they prepare for the Games.
"We are honored to partner with Special Olympics and support the athletes and coaches as they prepare for a memorable and healthy experience at the World Summer Games in Athens," said Anne Finucane, Global Strategy and Marketing officer and chair of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation.
Read more.. |
| INNOVATIVE PRACTICE |
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Experimental, Cutting Edge Personal Electronic Health Records Provided to Team USA Athletes
Special Olympics plans to take advantage of the coming World Summer Games in Athens to make a major step towards offering intellectually disabled persons a better health future. At the Athens World Summer Games, the TEAM USA athletes will be provided with a personal and portable multilingual electronic health record. The records will contain relevant history data as well as all data from previous SO health screenings.
Read the entire story... |
| RESOURCES |
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Upcoming Opportunity for Programs to Train New Clinical Directors
As previously announced in January, thanks to a donation from the Golisano Foundation, Healthy Athletes is able to hold three regional U.S. training events in 2011. In order to ensure all U.S. Programs are able to take advantage of the remaining training opportunity, SOI will continue recruiting. If you know of someone that would like to become a clinical director, please send the CV for these individuals to Drew Choules (dchoules@specialolympics.org). Potential clinical directors will need to be approved by the discipline managers before they can be trained.
Upcoming training events:
- Marlborough, Mass.; September 16-17, 2011 (Medfest, Health Promotion, Fit Feet, Healthy Hearing, Special Smiles, FUNfitness)
Contact Drew Choules for more information, including clinical director position descriptions.
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Quick Fact:
Approximately 70% of all athletes competing at the World Summer Games Athens 2011 (about 5,000 athletes) will visit Healthy Athletes during the Games. |
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Kudos!!
To Dr. Sandy Block and Opening Eyes Illinois. The initiative was given the “Outstanding Organization” award by SO Illinois.
To Dr. Sandy Avagyan, Yerevan State Medical University professor of the Department of Child Dentistry, and Special Olympics Armenia for conducting its very first Special Smiles screening event in May. To the Healthy Athletes Opening Eyes program in Michigan. At its recent State Games, the program set a global record for number of screenings with more than 1,000 athletes screened. Have some news that you want to share with your Healthy Athletes colleagues? Contact us and let us know! |
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