Key Takeaways
- ’s Fertitta College of Medicine partnered with Special Olympics Texas to provide free health screenings for athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), helping to reduce barriers to care and ensure their participation.
- The event gave medical students valuable hands-on experience treating patients with IDD, addressing a gap in traditional medical training, exposing them to potential careers in inclusive and developmental medicine.
- Organizers envision expanding the event to medical schools nationwide, promoting a broader medical education and improving access to respectful care for individuals with IDD.
91Æƽâ°æ medical students alongside physicians provided athletes participating in Special Olympics sports with free health screenings during a June 21 event at the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine.
The MedFest event was a first between the Fertitta College of Medicine and Special Olympics Texas. The community engagement event was part of Special Olympics Texas’ Healthy Athletes program, which is a health initiative that serves people with intellectual disabilities.
rising sophomore Chris Jaison, one of the event’s lead organizers, began volunteering with the New Jersey chapter of Special Olympics as an eighth grader. Then at , he saw an opportunity to help Special Olympics Texas athletes gain access to free health care screenings while helping medical students to engage and treat patients with intellectual and development disabilities, or IDD.
“I was inspired by the health care disparities faced by individuals with IDD. Specifically, the fact that many patients with IDD struggle to access adequate, adaptable and respectful care,” Jaison said. “This is, in part, attributable to physician training involving very limited exposure to patients with IDD.”
Before participating in the Olympic-type sports, athletes are encouraged to receive an annual physical examination to medically clear them to participate, said Dr. Brian Reed, professor and chair of the Clinical Sciences department in the Fertitta College of Medicine.
“Events like this make it convenient for the athletes or the parents that are responsible,” Reed said. “Should they have difficulty finding a primary care physician or finding an office that is able to do it for them, we're able to remove that barrier.”
“Many of our students do not have backgrounds or don’t have family members that are in health care, and they really don’t know what all is possible for them from a career standpoint.”
— Dr. Brian Reed, professor and chair of the Clinical Sciences department in the College of Medicine
During the event, athletes of varying ages received health screenings from university doctors and medical students, who cleared them to participate in any of the 32 sports Special Olympics Texas offers, said Jeremy DeLao, director of statewide health programs and services for Special Olympics Texas.
For medical students, it allows them to see potential career tracks available to them, Reed said.
“Many of our students do not have backgrounds or don't have family members that are in health care, and they really don't know what all is possible for them from a career standpoint,” Reed said. “This may be the spark that inspired one of them to pursue either pediatrics or even internal medicine-pediatrics that would allow them to continue to provide care for this special population.”
Sydney Gandy, a fourth-year medical student who participated in the event, said she’s interested in pursuing medicine-pediatrics, where physicians have been trained to treat children and adults.
“It’s important to gain practice on how to interact with medically complex individuals and their families,” Gandy said. “Being able to do that under the umbrella of sports is great.”
Jaison said he hopes the event will lead to future collaborations between Special Olympics Texas and the College of Medicine, which aims to provide inclusive health care to the Houston-area community.
“I hope to apply this framework not only to other medical schools in Texas, but those across the country, enabling more inclusive medical education,” he said.