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Dr. Stephen Corbin, Dean of Special Olympics University, congratulates Dr. Mary Frank, Board Chair of the American Academy of Family Physicians after she became the first provider to sign up on the new Healthy Athletes Provider Director, a Web-based database of health care providers willing to treat people with intellectual disabilities. (Photo courtesy of AAFP) |
Referrals for follow-up care is one goal of the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes® program. To this end, in September 2005, Special Olympics launched the Healthy Athletes Provider Directory, a searchable online database of health-care professionals who are able and willing to treat patients with intellectual disabilities. Since then, nearly 1,000 providers have listed themselves in the Provider Directory. On 20 July 2007, the Provider Directory opens to the public - and individuals from the United States, Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean can locate a medical professional in a few mouse clicks. Future Provider Directory expansion will include other regions of the world.
“Designed to provide an easy-to-use means for people with intellectual disabilities and their families to find a health-care professional in their area, the Provider Directory is on its way to be the largest list of health-care providers for people with intellectual disabilities in the United States. Health-care providers are encouraged to sign up, invite their colleagues to participate and engage any professional service organizations they are members of to get involved in also recruiting providers.
Although not yet formally designated as a “medically underserved” group by the federal government, people with intellectual disabilities have limited access to health care, and the quality of care they do receive is often poor. The disparities in care often result in a higher prevalence of preventable conditions. Special Olympics commissioned research reinforces previous studies that found that despite the widespread belief that individuals with intellectual disabilities receive better health care than the rest of the population, people with intellectual disabilities actually have poorer health, more specialized health-care needs and greater difficulty accessing health-care services and doctors compared to the general public.
"The Academy of General Dentistry Foundation, along with the Academy of General Dentistry, has heard Special Olympics' call to populate the Healthy Athletes Provider Directory," said Bob Roesch, Chair of the Special Olympics Special Smiles Committee for the Academy of General Dentistry Foundation. "By partnering with Special Olympics, we have not only established a goal of increasing the number of dentists listed in the Provider Directory, we are working toward having 10 percent of our membership listed by 2009. Early response from our members has been very positive."
Participation in the Provider Directory is strictly voluntary; the online database facilitates the connection between a person with intellectual disabilities and a health care professional. Special Olympics cannot guarantee that the information it receives is up to date nor does Special Olympics endorse the qualifications of the health care providers listed in the Directory
If you are a health care professional and are interested in engaging your professional organization in the Healthy Athletes program, please contact Jessica Beauchemin, Senior Manager of Health and Research Communications at jbeauchemin@specialolympics.org. |
