Healthy Athletes Update
Sandy Block, Global Clinical Advisor for Opening Eyes, speaks to the new regional clinical advisors in Barcelona.
Regional Clinical Advisor Training Offers New Model for Future of Healthy Athletes
On May 22-24, fifteen Opening Eyes clinical directors representing all seven regions gathered in Barcelona, Spain to be trained as the first ever Special Olympics Lions Clubs International Opening Eyes Regional Clinical Advisors. The move marks an important milestone for Opening Eyes. Regional Clinical Advisors will provide a critical leadership role, allowing the regions to utilize more regional leadership, and not depend squarely on SOI’s central HQ for these types of training and implementation resources.
“The Regional Clinical Advisors are the best resource now in providing training and assistance, support and guidance for implementing and expanding Opening Eyes in SOEE,” said Bjoern Koehler, Healthy Athletes Regional Coordinator for Europe/Eurasia. “The training provided them with competences to identify and train potential clinical directors, to assist at major Games like Regional or World Games and to develop and improve Opening Eyes programs in their region.”
Traditionally, new clinical directors were introduced to Healthy Athletes through Train the Trainer events. Through this training module, vision care professionals interested in the Opening Eyes program are provided with a didactic and practicum experience, and includes participation in real-world vision screenings at an event. After completion of the training, volunteers become clinical directors for their accredited state or national Special Olympics Program. Through this structured training model, Special Olympics has been able to adequately orient and train interested and qualified health care providers to bring Healthy Athletes back to their home community.
Conducted at national, regional and international events, the Train the Trainer model has been the primary driver for expansion of the clinical director base from 1999-2009, but as the organization has grown, it became clear a new, more de-centralized model was needed. The traditional events are almost exclusively conducted by American health care providers, dependent upon availability of Special Olympics headquarters staff and global clinical advisors, and require significant resources in both money and manpower to conduct. Healthy Athletes is a global network; it is believed that the new regional clinical advisor model will help the organization to build leadership structures and training capabilities to match this global framework. The new model will also provide needed clinical director training, ensure quality assurance visits to Programs, assist national Programs with the identification process for potential clinical director candidates, and provide development opportunities within each of the disciplines.
David Richardson from Newfoundland, Canada is a new regional clinical advisor for North America. He anticipates that the new model will have a positive effect on Programs. “For Canada, it should help in setting up clinical directors in all regions, and fostering an understanding of the OE program to eye care practitioners,” he said. “The sessions in Spain were excellent, and very well received. [The new model] will make a big difference in making the program truly global in nature, while still keeping its foundation.”
The impetus for the new model came directly from regional representatives themselves. During the 2007 Special Olympics Healthy Athletes Global Health Conference in Miami, Florida, all representatives expressed the increasing need for dedicated training capabilities in the regions. Following the conference in Miami, the Opening Eyes team began the process of organizing a standardized training for regional clinical advisors.
It is hoped that the regional clinical advisor model will prove successful enough to also be implemented in the other Healthy Athletes disciplines.
Official Role
The official job description of the Opening Eyes regional clinical advisors is as follows:
1. Train eye care professionals to become Clinical Directors;
2. Assist in the identification of Clinical Director candidates- when needed (upon request);
3. Assist at target events that require additional support (upon request of SOI);
4. Provide a quality assurance assessment upon request of SOI;
5. Advise SOI on issues, challenges and improvements of clinical program;
6. Communicate on potential development opportunities related to Opening Eyes, both locally and regionally;
7. Work directly with Regional Healthy Athletes Manager to help grow and expand the Opening Eyes program in SOI;
8. Insure that data collection is comprehensive and compliant (HAS);
9. Assist in determining locally adequate methods for referral and follow up for athletes in need
10. Provide support for advocacy on behalf of quality vision care for the population of persons with intellectual disabilities.