In the Spotlight
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Dr. Stan Shepherd, Chairman of HEALTHone Global Ltd. |
“In the Spotlight” with Dr. Stanley Shepherd and Chairman of HEALTHone Global Ltd.
Dr. Stanley Shepherd's collaboration with Special Olympics and Healthy Athletes began five years ago when his company, HEALTHone Global Ltd., responded to a proposal to create a database of athlete health information. He initially had no direct connection to the organization, but his work with Special Olympics over the last five years, and seeing the positive impact of providing health information for one of the most underserved populations in the world, will fuel the collaboration for another five years.
We recently sat down with Dr. Shepherd at the 2007 Global Health Conference in Miami, Florida, an event focused on strategic planning for Healthy Athletes. Dr. Shepherd informed attendees that the many historical data entry problems have been resolved, allowing us to create an aggregate database of data from all Healthy Athletes events, all around the world. This database currently has screening data from 64,000 athletes.
How did you first get involved with Special Olympics?
We [HEALTHone Global Ltd.] were one of the practitioners contracted to collect athlete health information for the 2002 Special Olympics Invitational Games in Dublin. After that, we responded to a tender [proposal] for Healthy Athletes software. We were awarded the contract, but instead became the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes Global Partner for electronic health records, providing our services to Special Olympics pro bono. That was November 2002—just six months before the 2003 Special Olympics World Games Summer Games in Dublin. We at HEALTHone thought we could make a contribution.
What were the lessons learned from the 2003 World Summer Games in Dublin?
The learning actually started at the first Games I attended, a pilot in Mexico, where we quickly realized the need to pre-populate the system [with athlete information such as names and birthdates] to reduce errors. There are parallels between Special Olympics and other health-care systems with respect to inconsistencies in data collection. The first thing we did was to work with Special Olympics to develop some common standards. We worked through the [discipline-specific health screening] forms and made them as easy to use as possible to minimize data entry errors.
How is Special Olympics unique from other clients you have worked with?
HAS (Healthy Athletes Software system) is unique to Special Olympics. After the Dublin Games, the software for the 2004 Special Olympics Invitational Games in Nagano needed to be revamped. And after Nagano, we had enough experience to recognize the real opportunity for the data and to assess needs. Special Olympics had an opportunity to go beyond simply collecting Healthy Athletes data. In anticipation and working in conjunction with a committee of representatives from the Healthy Athletes disciplines, we revised the HAS software on HEALTHone, our core software platform. HEALTHone operates in 18 different clinical specialties, in five languages and in eight counties. So HAS looks exactly the same to users, but it now sits on a comprehensive clinical database. There are no boundaries or barriers to the data that Special Olympics could collect on athletes. The advantage is that Special Olympics can choose to enlarge the data set in whatever way suits the movement. There are no limits or constraints—it could fit the needs of a Special Olympics Program and be used to influence policies.
What has been your favorite Special Olympics moment to-date?
There are multiple moments at every event. The bits I love are that you can just see the pride, pleasure and joy from the athletes. This is a pure expression of humanity and encapsulates what Special Olympics is all about. It also really does put the athlete first in everything it does.
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Dr. Stan Shepherd speaks to volunteers entering data at the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai. Photos by: Kester Edwards |
What role do you see technology playing in the future of Healthy Athletes?
I am happy with the way Healthy Athletes has embraced information management. And with the future progress, it can be even greater. There are two things I would like to see contribute to the future success of HAS. The first is closing the loop for referrals. At present, we don't have a system in place to follow up the referrals identified at Healthy Athletes events. We could also use this to link with the Special Olympics Provider Directory. Secondly, even if we quadruple the number of Healthy Athletes events, we would still only scratch the surface of reaching the 2.5 million athletes currently competing and participating in Special Olympics. So we could use technology and the Internet to reach out to all athletes and extend health support beyond Healthy Athletes events.
Return to Healthy Athletes Update, Winter 2007
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