Caring for special populations
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EXTRA! Web sites provide disability information New Jersey AFP physicians, residents, students and staff "strike a pose" alongside Special Olympics New Jersey staff. Both groups worked long hours to make the 2003 MedFest event a success. |
Despite legal and medical advances that improve the quality of life for disabled Americans, logistical barriers often block their full involvement in society. One example: state-required preparticipation physicals for Special Olympics.
That barrier has come crashing down in New Jersey. There, Jeffrey Zlotnick, M.D., of Phillipsburg and the New Jersey AFP have developed MedFest in partnership with Special Olympics New Jersey. The first daylong MedFest brought 70 young people to the Special Olympics facility in Lawrenceville, N.J., last fall for medical evaluations by 40 family physicians and residents. A second Medfest is set for April 23.
The initiative's benefits are bountiful, says Zlotnick. In addition to providing preparticipation sports evaluations to athletes, MedFest shows families the value of family medicine in meeting their total health care needs. As a result of MedFest, FPs and residents are learning about caring for patients with special needs, and New Jersey has begun developing a network of medical, educational and allied health professionals to which FPs can refer patients for specialized care and therapy.
MedFest began when the New Jersey AFP learned that hundreds of potential athletes were barred from Special Olympics because few subspecialists felt comfortable certifying their overall capacity to participate. New Jersey AFP board members tackled the problem by appointing Zlotnick to the task.
Zlotnick hit the road with a CME program on caring for disabled patients. He met with 11 family medicine residency programs and practicing physicians. "The residents got fired up and wanted to come. The faculty got fired up and wanted to come. The community doctors got fired up and wanted to come," said Zlotnick.
In all, more than 100 physicians and residents received specific training in providing preparticipation evaluations to developmentally disabled people.
Family physicians, residents, medical students and nurses volunteered for the first MedFest. Arrayed in five stations at the Special Olympics facility, the volunteers took medical histories, blood pressures, temperatures and pulse rates. Then they conducted otolaryngological, cardiac, pulmonary and orthopedic health exams.
The medical teams' findings helped Special Olympics staff identify and, if necessary, adapt sports events for the athletes.
"We adapt the sport to the person, so there are very few sports that a person can't compete in," said Mathieu Nelessen, director of education and outreach at Special Olympics New Jersey.
Response all around exceeded expectations, said Zlotnick. "We're still getting calls telling us it was an awesome experience. One medical school called and asked us to reserve space for five students to participate in the next one."
"Meanwhile, MedFest built the foundation for a statewide clearinghouse by which families can connect to family physicians who have training and experience caring for special-needs patients," said Candida Taylor, New Jersey AFP office manager and MedFest coordinator.
"Special Olympics and the Academy have started a database that identifies family physicians in each region who have training and welcome special-needs patients and families," said Taylor. "So if a parent says, 'I want a doctor in Burlington who understands where my child is coming from,' Special Olympics and the Academy will have that information.
"One of our goals was to get these kids into medical homes if they didn't have one," she added. "A lot of people with special needs don't have one. They may have a doctor for their kidneys and a doctor for their bones, but they don't have a doctor who understands the patient as a whole."
Zlotnick agreed. "These families have many needs," he said. "The parents told me about times, for example, when their child had skin problems that were ignored. The parents themselves have their own health needs. I tell them that family physicians don't have an age range. If the parents have health problems, we can take care of them, too."
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