158 volunteers join Special Olympic health programme
KUCHING: A team of 158 volunteers including medical personnel from government and private hospitals, polyclinics, Kuching and Samarahan Health Departments, Lions Leo medical students and lecturers from Segi College are involved in the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes Programme (Sohap) at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak ( Unimas).
They are divided into seven sections namely Health Promotion, Fun Fitness, Fit Feet, Special Smiles, Opening Eyes, Healthy Hearing and MedFest.
Heading the programme is Prof Dr Toh Teck Hock, the director of Healthy Athletes Programme, Special Olympics Sarawak cum Asia Pacific regional clinical advisor.
According to T oh, the programme is run on a two-yearly basis and this time it is held in conjunction with the Special Olympics Sarawak State Games which will be held at Unimas from Aug 17 to 19.
“Special Olympics is a programme for athletes with intellectual disability( ID) including children and adults who take part in sports.
“Sohap is a programme where a group of doctors, nurses, therapists, dentists and dietitians come to provide health screening of the athletes, to detect if they have any medical problem that needs attention. We also provide them advice and education, share with them what are the good food to eat, how to wear proper shoes, keep a proper hand hygiene.
“At the same time, we are using this opportunity to train our health personnel so that they have better understanding of the athletes and their needs,” he said.
He also thanked Sarawak Health Department director Dr Jamilah Hashim and sponsors for their support.
About 320 athletes from Miri, Kuching and Samarahan are expected to participate in various events such as track and field, swimming, football, bowling and bocce.