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Healthy Athletes
The mission of Special
Olympics Healthy Athletes®, developed in 1996 by Special Olympics
International, is to improve athletes' ability to train and compete in
Special Olympics. Healthy Athletes is designed to help Special
Olympics athletes improve their health and fitness, leading to
enhanced sports experience and improved well-being.
Kansas needs volunteer
clinical directors for each discipline! We could do many more
screenings if we had more clinical directors to oversee clinics in
their geographic locations! If you are a medical professional or
affiliated with a medical facility or medical/dental training
institution and would like to assist with the Helalthy Athletes
program, please contact Susan Krumm at
krumms@ksso.org
or 913-236-9290.
Special Smiles
Special Olympics Special Smiles is a
non-intrusive dental screening. It provides athletes with hygiene
education to help ensure they are doing an adequate job of brushing
and flossing, as well as nutritional education to understand how their
diet affects their total health. The athletes also are provided with a
list of dentists/clinics in their area who will treat patients with
special needs, should they have difficulty finding a dentist.
Click
here for an informational brochure
Opening Eyes
The mission of Special Olympics - Lions
Clubs International Opening Eyes is to improve the quality of life for
the millions of individuals diagnosed with intellectual disabilities
by optimizing their vision, eye health and visual skills through
quality eye care.
The primary objective is to provide screenings to Special
Olympics athletes and educate athletes, parents and coaches about the
importance of regular eye care. Special Olympics athletes who
participate in an Opening Eyes screening are be fitted for new
eyeglasses or sports goggles at no cost to the athlete.
Click
here for an informational brochure
Healthy Hearing
New at the 2007 Fall
Sports Classic!!
Click here for more information
Healthy Hearing is the audiological
screening designed to assess the prevalence of possible hearing loss
among Special Olympics athletes and to identify specific athletes who
need audiological evaluations to determine if a hearing loss exists
and requires treatment.
Click
here for an informational brochure
Health Promotion
New at the 2007 Fall
Sports Classic!!
Click here for more information
Perhaps the nexus of all components of Special
Olympics Healthy Athletes®, Health Promotion seeks to find the best
ways to convey and reinforce key concepts and information to people
with intellectual disabilities and has interacted with thousands of
Special Olympics athletes at Games and in local communities. The
objectives of Health Promotion are to:
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Improve long-term health outcomes for Special
Olympics athletes by giving them the information, encouragement,
and facilities they need to sustain physical fitness and healthy
lifestyle choices (health screenings at Games include body mass
index and bone mineral density measurements)
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Improve the quality of life and self-image of
athletes
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Provide the athletes the means by which they can
work to better their own health and wellbeing
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Allow more people with intellectual disabilities
to participate in Special Olympics and to retain those athletes
who are currently active.
Additional disciplines
to be offered in the future!!
FUNfitness
Fit Feet
If you are interested in
volunteering for any of these, please contact Susan Krumm at
krumms@ksso.org
or 913-236-9290.
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