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Healthy Athletes Honors Dr. Gilbert Herer
By Darcie Mersereau, VP, Health Programs
This month I must announce a major transition in Healthy Athletes, as one of our founders takes a step back from daily involvement in our program. Effective April 1, Dr. Gilbert R. Herer will transition to a new title and role -- Emeritus Founder and Senior Global Advisor of the Special Olympics Healthy Hearing Program in order to concentrate on his teaching, writing and research endeavors.
Read Darcie's complete column...
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| FEATURE ARTICLE |
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Treatment of Heart Defect will Add Decades to Athlete’s Life
Like many people with intellectual disability, Zuebeyde Horus, a Special Olympics athlete from Turkey, was living with a serious heart condition, but her caretakers didn’t know – until a volunteer doctor with Healthy Athletes program discovered it.
“We realized that she had a serious heart murmur, told her trainer that she should not participate in any other sports activity and should be referred to a cardiologist for echocardiographic imaging,” said Dr. Erhan Sayali, a clinical director who organizes Medfest.
Read Zuebeyde's story...
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| INNOVATIVE PRACTICE |
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Dental Care Worth Thousands of Dollars Provided Free to Arizona Athletes
Devin Hohl’s story is one shared by Special Olympics athletes everywhere. She suffered from a chronic infection in her mouth, requiring a root canal and crown, but lost her dental insurance when she turned 21 and had been unable to find a dentist willing to work with people with disabilities. At the dental college at A.T. Still University in Arizona, however, faculty and students working with the Special Olympics Special Smiles program welcomed her on December 9 and provided the needed care. The services provided to Devin would normally cost $2500.
“It was inspiring to see the dental students, teachers, and mentors come together to relieve the athletes from the pain that has been bothering them,” said Isaac Sanft, Special Olympics Arizona’s healthy athletes coordinator.
Read this complete article...
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| PARTNERSHIP SPOTLIGHT |
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Essilor Renews Partnership with Special Olympics to Improve Athletes’ Vision
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Essilor International has signed a new agreement to renew its support of Special Olympics and the Opening Eyes program. The Essilor Group has been providing prescription lenses to Special Olympics athletes around the world since 2002.
In nine years, the Group has provided over 100,000 athletes with prescription lenses. This gift of sight has dramatically changed the lives of athletes like Hicham Novara, a swimmer from Morocco, who came to his vision screening with no glasses and vision so poor he was essentially blind. Within minutes of working with volunteer doctors, he was able to see clearly. Read more of Novara’s story.
“As part of its mission to eliminate poor vision and its lifelong consequences, the Essilor Vision Foundation is proud to head up the actions of Essilor subsidiaries around the world in continuing the partnership with Special Olympics to bring a “better life through better sight” to athletes with intellectual disabilities” said Claude Darnault, Chief Sustainability Officer, Essilor International.
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Bank of America Gives $100k to Bring Health to More Athletes in 2012
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As part of its ongoing support for Special Olympics, long-time partner Bank of America is contributing $100,000 to bolster Healthy Athletes capacity grants to be distributed to Programs worldwide in 2012.
Over the length of its partnership with Special Olympics, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation has provided nearly $7 million in financial support, including previous donations to Healthy Athletes - most recently a $100,000 grant that supported Healthy Athletes at the 2011 World Summer Games in Athens.
“Special Olympics athletes are an inspiration to all of us,” said Anne Finucane, Global Strategy and Marketing Officer and chair of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation. “We’re honored to be a Healthy Athletes partner as the program is designed to improve athletes’ health and fitness in order to enhance their ability to train and compete in future competitions.”
In addition to monetary support, the Foundation has arranged for thousands of volunteers to help at Special Olympics events. In the past couple of years, employees volunteered more than 5,000 hours to support athletes in local communities across the United States.
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| INNOVATIVE PRACTICE |
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Myanmar Launches First Screening Event -- and Funds it Locally
Nearly 450 Special Olympics athletes participated in the first-ever Healthy Athletes screening event in Muayna, Myanmar, which took place alongside the Special Olympics Myanmar National Games held 14-15 November.
During 2011, six other countries also held Healthy Athletes screenings for the first time in the history of their Programs -- Albania, Armenia, Cambodia, Macedonia, Seychelles, and Serbia.
Read this complete article...
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| RESOURCES |
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Grants Available for Programs to Conduct Family Health Forums
Application Deadline is February 10
Special Olympics Programs are encouraged to offer Family Health Forums in their communities and may apply for up to $3,000 US to organize and run the events.
Sponsored by Lions Club International, the Family Health Forum initiative is designed to engage families of those with intellectual disabilities in Special Olympics and offer an environment where parents and caregivers can gain direct access to health information, resources, and support.
Special Olympics Programs should develop forums that address the specfic questions and concerns of their local family members. A health topic MUST be part of the agenda, but a variety of service related topics can also be included.
For more information about this opportunty, contact your regional Healthy Athletes Coordinator/Manager or contact Heather Parker (hparker@specialolympics.org) at SOI.
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Quick Fact:
In 2011, nearly 1 in 4 Healthy Athletes events worldwide were conducted using local funding sources, with no grant money from Special Olympics Int'l.
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Kudos!!
To Bjoern Koehler for leading SOEE where four Programs offered Healthy Athletes for the first time in 2011: Armenia, Serbia, Albania, and Macedonia. All of the Clinical Directors who led these screenings were trained at the 2010 European Summer Games in Warsaw, Poland.
Have some news that you want to share with your Healthy Athletes colleagues? Contact us and let us know!
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