Improving Healthcare for Spanish-Speaking Special Olympics Athletes in Chatham County, North Carolina

Abstract

Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Special Olympics Health was created in 1997 to focus more on the health of the athletes, who suffer from many healthy disparities. This led to the development of MedFest, an event to offer free health screenings and sports physical exams for all Special Olympics athletes. Special Olympics North Carolina identified a need in Chatham County, NC to increase access of their sports programs and health programs to athletes and families who are Spanish-speaking. The goal of this project was to improve provider comfort and communication with IDD patients both for providers at MedFest events and more importantly for providers in the community. Secondly, this project aimed to improve the referral process by which these patients find consistent and appropriate care. A training video was implemented which included information about common medical issues, common barriers to healthcare, various communication techniques, and additional resources for providers to use for IDD care. After modifications utilizing the Plan, Do, Study, Act methodology, the video was found to increase provider comfort and understanding of IDD care. A Referral Tool to facilitate ease of referral from MedFest to primary care or specialty care providers as needed was created as a template for future use given low participation by Chatham County providers.