Free checkups helping Special Olympics athletes stay healthy

LOS ANGELES – They arrived in Los Angeles by the thousands to run, jump and swim and to play such team sports as soccer and softball.

This week, however, Special Olympics athletes from around the world also are taking part in what could be called the Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat events.

Tucked into a corner of the University of Southern California’s sprawling campus is a makeshift medical clinic that seemingly sprouted overnight. There, hundreds of doctors, dentists and other health care providers are working to ensure thousands of athletes go home with clean bills of health – or the closest thing to them that can be produced in a week. A few athletes will even leave with the ability to hear for the first time.

Contrary to popular belief, people with intellectual disabilities, including those who compete in the Special Olympics, do not get better medical care than others, said Zabi Mansoory, director of the Healthy Athletes program. Many get worse care. Some get no care at all.

“About 24 percent wear shoes that are too small – and they compete in those shoes,” said Mansoory.

As he spoke, a steady stream of yellow school buses, each adorned with the Special Olympics logo, continually jammed a small campus street as they disgorged athletes by the hundreds.

Like all the other tents, the dental tent was filled shoulder-to-shoulder with athletes and their coaches, many chatting happily and loudly in a cacophony of languages as they waited to see their health care providers.

“On Sunday, 21 athletes received hearing aids for the first time in their lives, including three who couldn’t hear at all until they got the hearing aids,” said John Ohanesian, director of medical services for the 2015 Special Olympics.

One was a basketball player from India who was born without ear canals.

“She could hear right away,” audiologist Dennis Van Vliet said with a smile as he described fitting her head with a device that allows the inner ear to pick up vibrations and transmit them as sound to the brain.

At a patio table just outside the clinic, Icelandic soccer player Thor Haklidason and about a dozen of his teammates reviewed the printed-out information they were given by physical therapists who had just tested their strength, endurance, flexibility and other physical skills.

“We need to stretch a little bit more,” the muscular, 25-year-old team captain said with a sheepish smile.