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SOCI athletes benefit from free health screenings
- Updated: 6 October 2016
More than 50 Special Olympics Cayman Islands (SOCI) athletes were screened for a variety of health issues last Saturday, 1 October, at an event that also provided health education to people with intellectual disabilities and their families.
The annual Healthy Athletes initiative was held in partnership with Aon, which has supported SOCI over the years.
Opening Eyes focused on vision.
“A lot of our Special Olympics athletes have quite specific health challenges. On an annual basis, we try to hold this testing to hone in on the particular issues that need to be addressed,” said SOCI chairman Adrian Lynch.
SOCI will collate the information collected from the 52 athletes and will pass on referrals, where necessary. Statistical information is also uploaded to a Special Olympics International database which tracks date from programmes worldwide.
“It’s very important that on an annual basis, the athletes themselves get into the habit of being brought into a situation where we’re testing them regularly,” the SOCI chairman added.
On hand were medical professionals and volunteers from community groups including Lions and Rotary, helping with the screenings in the areas of Fit Feet (Podiatry), Healthy Hearing, and Opening Eyes (Vision). Dieticians were also on hand to talk to the athlete and their families about general healthy eating and nutrition.
As many as 52 athletes were screened.
“They’re here educating the athletes, and more particularly, the families around the issues they need to be cognizant of and the medical issues that they may indeed be prone to,” Mr Lynch told CaymanSportsBuzz.com when we visited the Mary Miller Hall.
“I’m very pleased…It’s flowing pretty well and there’s no major bottlenecks, which is a good sign.”
Mr Lynch is connected to the event in another way. He is Head of Office for Aon in the Cayman Islands.
“The Cayman Islands, as a community, is a marvelous reflection of corporate social responsibility for many companies. On a personal level it’s very important to me but on a corporate level, it’s very important to us that we give back to the community,” he said, as he thanked the various companies and service groups who were on hand to assist.
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