Winning habits: Special Olympians take a break from competition to learn about healthy lifestyles

ORONO – Athletes at the Maine Special Olympics competition this weekend at the University of Maine did more than strut their stuff before an adoring audience of fans and supporters. They also took advantage of a range of health care screenings aimed at helping them stay as active and independent as possible.

The Healthy Athletes program was developed in 1996 to improve disabled athletes’ ability to compete and improve their overall well-being. The program relies on volunteer labor, corporate donations and support from colleges and service organizations.

In the Opening Eyes vision clinic, set up in the Walsh Center beside Alfond Arena, athletes of all ages and abilities made their way through a series of specialized testing booths. Using adaptive eye charts and state-of-the-art equipment, volunteers checked the athletes’ vision, depth perception and color perception. They also tested for early signs of glaucoma and other eye diseases. Volunteers included Bangor-area professionals and students from the New England College of Optometry in Boston.

Many athletes left the vision center with a new pair of prescription glasses, made on site at no charge, and nonprescription sunglasses or protective goggles, a new T-shirt and tote bag, and a dose of friendly professional advice and goodwill.

“I estimate that each year we give away about $25,000 to $30,000 worth of services and merchandise,” said Bangor optometrist David Douglass, clinical director for the Healthy Athletes eye care program in Maine.

Jon Hess is one of the athletes to benefit from the eye care clinic. Hess, 40, is married and lives in Lewiston. He works as a pot scrubber in a restaurant in Brunswick.

Hess describes himself as “mildly retarded,” but said he doesn’t let his limitations define him. At 10 a.m. Saturday, he was already sporting a gold medal for the shot put event, and he was preparing mentally for his later participation in the 50- and 100-meter dashes.

Getting his eyes checked is important, Hess said.

“These guys give me something to think about,” he said. “They tell me, ‘Take care of your eyes; they’re the only two you’ve got.’ They say, ‘Don’t let anyone mess with your eyes except a professional.'”

Hess received new prescription reading glasses worth about $300 and a pair of high-impact plastic goggles valued at about $120. He also got some advice.

“The pressure in your right eye is up a little,” Douglass told him. “You should follow up with your regular doctor about that.” Hess agreed, then headed back outside to the competition.

Farther inside Alfond, the Healthy Hearing area was screening athletes for a variety of ear problems, including wax buildup and hearing acuity. Amy Booth, clinical professor of audiology at the University of Maine, said about 30 graduate and undergraduate students were working with the athletes under professional supervision.

The Special Olympics offers her students a valuable opportunity to work with a special-needs population, Booth said. The screening equipment and procedures may be alarming to developmentally delayed adults and children, she noted, so students must learn to use appropriate language and techniques to develop their trust. Additionally, some disabilities increase the likelihood of certain ear problems – for example, people with Down syndrome may have very narrow ear canals, so ear infections are more likely to develop, she said.

Outside in the crowded competition field, a canvas pavilion shaded the Special Smiles dental screening clinic. Olympians and their families or guardians thronged the sign-up table to get a brief exam from a volunteer dentist or hygienist and a bag filled with goodies to take back home – electric toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss.

Staff at the dental tent Saturday included students from the dental hygiene programs at Husson College in Bangor and the University of New England in Westbrook as well as pre-dental students from the University of Maine.

At the nearby fitness tent, athletes tested their strength, flexibility and coordination with assistance from physical therapy students from Hesser College in Manchester, N.H. Eileen Bolstad of Oakland was there with her 28-year-old daughter, Marie, who was showing off her silver medal from the morning’s softball-throwing event.

Gregarious and something of a fitness nut, Marie was challenging the student volunteers to “pretend you’re Denise Austin” – her favorite celebrity fitness coach. Her energetic daughter prepares all year for the Special Olympics, Eileen Bolstad said, by walking on a treadmill and working out watching her Denise Austin tapes.

Marie has participated in Special Olympics events every year since she was 9 years old, and in 2004 she won a gold medal in swimming at the international competition in Minnesota, according to her mother. The program is “the best activity” for disabled people and their families, Bolstad said, creating an important sense of community and ritual out of a potentially isolating circumstance.

Information about Healthy Athletes is available online at www.specialolympics.org.