In 1997, Special Olympics Healthy Athletes® began offering free health screenings and education to Special Olympics athletes in a welcoming, fun environment. Since then, we have delivered over 2 million free health screenings and trained close to 300,000 health professionals and students to treat people with intellectual disabilities. Despite a mistaken belief that people with intellectual disabilities receive the same or better health care than others, they typically receive substandard care or virtually no health care at all.
Healthy Athletes is not only a program for athletes but also, through training and hands-on experience at screenings, a program for healthcare students and professionals to increase their knowledge of best practices in caring for and communicating with people with intellectual disabilities.
Location / Shifts – The Healthy Athletes program will be held at the UMN’s Health Sciences Education Center. The shifts are 4-8 hours in length. Parking, food, and a volunteer polo shift are provided.