HEALTHY ATHLETES PROGRAMME: Aim is to raise public and professional awareness of health problems athletes face, writes Carl O'Brien
Sopon Ketkao didn't know it, but if it wasn't for an eye examination he was given at the RDS as part of the Special Olympics healthy athletes programme, the 29-year-old table-tennis player from Thailand would have gone blind.
"The pressure on his eye was absolutely huge," says Nichola Kennedy, optometrist and a clinical director at the healthy athletes programme.
"It was more than twice that of normal eye pressure. There's no doubt about it, he would have lost his sight if it hadn't been detected."
The Thai athlete was diagnosed with glaucoma and was treated by a specialist in Dublin's Mater hospital yesterday. He is expected to recover and health authorities in Thailand will be alerted to ensure there is follow-up care when he arrives home.
Sopon Ketkao's story illustrates how the Special Olympics is about much more than sport.
The professionals in the programme who check the athletes' health, include hearing, eyesight and teeth, are also trained to care for people with learning difficulties and advocate for health policies which meet their needs.
At the healthy athletes centre in the RDS, athletes hug the clinicians who have helped them, others admire themselves in their new designer spectacles, while a few rummage excitedly through the care packs they receive. The clinicians, who have taken time off from their jobs to be here, are full of enthusiasm about the project.
"It's definitely more challenging to work here," says Lynda McGivney-Nolan, one of the clinical directors at the dental care section.
"You don't get as much fun in the normal job. There's much more emotional contact here, with all the hugs and kisses you receive. There's no time pressure either and money isn't an issue."
As well as the health problems that many people with a learning disability develop, often exacerbated by difficulties communicating, there is the additional obstacle of gaining access to a healthcare system which often ignores their particular needs.
Dr Steve Perlman, one of the global clinical advisers in dental care and a professor at Boston University, says the programme has changed the lives of many athletes and has also highlighted the need to improve access to healthcare for the disabled.
"This is about raising the public and professional awareness of the health problems that people with disabilities face. Right here there are 21 leading dentists from around the world who are learning how to run this programme, so they can introduce it in their own healthcare systems when they get home."
Accessing healthcare is not just a major difficulty for athletes from developing countries.
"We need to change attitudes in the dentistry profession and in society \ to deal with this issue," says Dr Gerard Gavin, chief medical officer at the Department of Health, and a long-time volunteer with the healthy athletes programme.
Because people with a disability have difficulty accessing dental care in Ireland and other western countries, many eventually need surgery to deal with problems that could have been prevented if detected earlier.
Surgery sometimes results in the death of patients because of complications with anaesthetics, says Dr Gavin.
More resources are needed and people with disabilities must be made more welcome into the surgeries of dentists and GPs, he says.
"At a political level it needs to be made a priority. There is a lot of political pressure, for example, to get more orthodontists, even though this could mean less resources for basic services. In essence, we need more leadership and attitude change at every level."