U.S. Vice President Joe Biden meets athletes at the Healthy Athletes venue in Boise, Idaho
World Winter Games Marks Many Firsts, Sets Records: More than 80% of Athletes Receive Screenings at Healthy Athletes
After spending more than an hour observing health screenings and mingling with athletes and volunteers February 12 at the Healthy Athletes venue in Boise, Idaho, U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden said he was impressed with what he had seen. “Our own health care system can learn from what’s happening right here. It’s amazing.” he said. The occasion was the first time a U.S. vice president had ever visited a Healthy Athletes event.
During his time at the venue, Biden watched as volunteer health professionals screened athletes for vision problems, gave away eyeglasses, fitted athletes with hearing aids, and tested athletes in the Funfitness area. He also used the opportunity to introduce Kareem Dale as the new special assistant to the President for disabilities policy. Click here for more information about Vice President Biden's visit.
While Biden’s stop received the most media attention, there were many other “firsts” that took place at Healthy Athletes in Boise. Thanks to a partnership with a local nonprofit organization called Miles of Smiles, Healthy Athletes offered free dental follow-up care to athletes for the first time. More than 30 athletes from around the world received fillings or other dental work during the Games.
Learie Buchan from Special Olympics Trinidad and Tobago was one such athlete. On the last day of the Games, he had 10 teeth extracted, dramatically improving his overall oral health.
“We want to thank you. What you are doing here is immeasurable,” said Mario Gormandy, assistant head of delegation for Trinidad and Tobago.
More than 80% of all athletes who competed in Idaho received at least one health screenings at Healthy Athletes, the highest percentage ever at a World Games. More than 1,600 athletes benefited from nearly 5,000 screenings.
Other milestones for Healthy Athlete at the World Winter Games included:
• The pilot program for a Athlete Personal Health Record was launched. This record will contain health information that athletes or their guardians can control, access, add to and share with their hometown health providers. Click here for more information about this development.
• Athletes were issued a “Healthy Athletes Pass” with radio frequency identification technology provided by Sunray Technologies and Fudan Microelectronics, new $3 million global Healthy Athletes sponsors. The pass allowed personal information to be stored electronically and accessed at each of the six Healthy Athletes disciplines.
• New clinical directors were trained to use the Healthy Athlete Software (HAS) system for the first time. HAS allows data from all Healthy Athletes events globally to be collected in one database so it can be analyzed and used to improve efforts at Special Olympics Programs and headquarters.
• Opening Eyes was assisted by the largest contingent of volunteers from Lions Club that have even been at a Special Olympics event. More than 250 members from the local Boise-area Lions Club helped athletes receive vision screenings.
• New technologies were used for the first time, enhancing the quality of health screenings with the addition of retina mapping, inner ear canal imaging, and a procedure for estimating risk for dental problems.
• For the first time, a Special Olympics athlete, Matthew Drumright, served as the official photographer for Healthy Athletes. Click here to read a profile of Matthew Drumright.