Opening Eyes Program Seeks Volunteers For 2012 Special Olympic Summer Games

Opening Eyes Program Seeks Volunteers For
2012 Special Olympic Summer Games

By Katie Van Hise, NJSOP Director of Public Relations 

Six to eight times a year Dr. Paul Berman leaves his
optometric practice in Hackensack, New Jersey and travels
to the sites of various Special Olympics games happening
around the world.

It was 21 years ago that he realized the absence of vision
care among other health services being provided to special
needs athletes and, in response, founded the Special
Olympics Lions Club International Opening Eyes program.

Opening Eyes is a facet of the Special Olympics Healthy
Athletes program which aims to improve the quality of
health care received by individuals with intellectual disabil-
ities. According to its website, the Healthy Athletes program
has trained more than 100,000 health professionals to treat
people within the special needs demographic.

"Doctors feel intimidated because they're not as familiar
with special needs patients." says Dr. Kimberly Friedman,
one of New Jersey's Opening Eyes Clinical Directors.
"Within five minutes of being there (volunteers) will feel
completely comfortable. It's simple for any doctor to jump
in and feel right at home."

Dr. Sharon Manto, a 12-year volunteer for Opening Eyes,
agrees. She says working with Special Olympics athletes has
taught her to be more patient with the people she sees in
her office and to recognize that not everyone is the same.

The New Jersey Special Olympic Summer Games take
place each year in early June at the College of New Jersey.
Last year, volunteers performed 266 screenings, provided
142 athletes with prescription glasses, and made 41 referrals
to NJSOP member optometrists for follow up care.

"It's tiring, but you feel happy," says Dr. Manto. "We do a
really good job and want to see as many people as we can."

According to Dr. Friedman, New Jersey has one of the
most organized Opening Eyes programs in the nation.

Edna McKinney, who serves as administrative assistant to
the program, spends months recruiting optometrists,
paraoptometrics, and optometry students to volunteer.

McKinney acknowledges the time commitment and the
fact that many optometric physicians and their staff keep
weekend hours, making it hard to volunteer for an event
that's held over a Saturday and Sunday.

II Fortunately, there are options for Opening Eyes
volunteers," says McKinney. "This year, people can sign
up to be at the games for half a day on Saturday, either at
the beginning or end of the day. So that should help those
who have to be at the office for part of the day, or with
their families. /I

Student volunteers also have the same flexibility but,
according to McKinney, funds allocated by Special
Olympics for overnight accommodations make it easy for
Salus University and SUNY volunteers to spend the night
and participate in screenings for the duration of the event.

Vittorio Mena, a second year student at Salus University,
says he started volunteering at the games so that he could
begin to get involved in the community to which he
hopes to return after graduation. He sees the event as a
chance to connect with local optometrists, optometry
students from other schools, and a patient demographic
he's had little exposure to. But there was another interac-
tion he hadn't been expecting.

"I was performing tests on each of the athletes, one of
them I recognized as someone familiar," Mena recalls. "He
recognized me immediately. We (had gone to) the same
high school and were able to catch up real quick." 

For returning volunteers, the familiarity factor is something
they look forward to. Many receive hugs from athletes they
helped in years past. As Dr. Friedman puts it, "we get much
more out of it than we give."

Currently, the Special Olympics Lions Club Opening Eyes
program is run at 130 Special Olympics events around the
world. Dr. Berman, Dr. Su Danberg (Connecticut) and Dr.
Sandy Block (illinois) manage approximately 4000 volunteers
globally with the help of Clinical Directors, including New
Jersey's Dr. Friedman, Dr. Bruce Meyer and Dr. Margaret
Facey-Campbell. Together, they are gearing up to host the
National Games in New Jersey in 2014.

"We will need a lot of volunteers for this huge event
when the entire nation comes to New Jersey," says Dr.
Berman. "Many celebrities and government officials will
come to New Jersey to celebrate the achievements of the
athletes and the message of joy, inclusion, acceptance,
and love which is the Special Olympics movement."

For 2012, however, volunteer applications are being
accepted now through June 1⁵¹ with the games scheduled
to take place on June 8 - 10. Interested volunteers can
visit the NJSOP.org home page for more information or
contact Edna Mckinney at 609.323.4012.

(printed from NJSOP newsletter.  April 2012)