CU MSPH Medfest

Harnett County MedFest helps Special Olympics athlethes acquire standard sports physicals, which are required for participation in Special Olympics events.

[abigailkarikari]

We made it!! It has been quite the journey for Team Medfest. We came together on Sunday 11/18 to work on out video as well as our PowerPoint presentation. We reminisced about the event; what went wrong, what we could improve and our  favorite moments of the event. We all agreed that the Wellness fair was the best part of the event (shout out to Kelsey for leading that). I truly enjoyed working with these amazing individuals! Can’t believe it’s over. I cannot wait to present our video and share our experiences with the class. 

[abigailkarikari]

On November 8th Harnett County first ever Medfest took place!! It was truly the best and most stressful day. We are very appreciative of all the health care professionals and volunteers who took the time to help make Medfest happen. It was such a great feeling to see all the student athlete who were able to participate come into the rooms for their physicals as well as the providers who were providing the care. 

It has been a long and tiring journey to get to where we are now. We had a lot of obstacles to overcome before, during and even after the event. This past weekend we had to deal with incomplete paperwork, miscommunication, and scheduling problems. We had been anticipating about 65 students participating in the event, however, only 15 students were able to receive their physicals and this was in part due to missing paperwork. Despite the small amount served, we were able to provide physicals to students who otherwise would not have had access to this care due to barriers such as transportation, cost, and shortage of trained physicians who can work with individuals with intellectual disabilities. 

Some of the difficulties we faced was due to things that were completely out of our control. The weekend before the event we received word that only one of the packets turned in was truly complete from the previous 10 we were informed were complete. As the school liaison, I emailed the teachers who I had least communication with to ensure that they were being proactive in reminding the students and even calling the parents of the students to make sure that they returned the forms. I even called one of the teachers who had not responded to any of my emails at all and she had informed me that she would be bringing her entire class, had 14 students receiving physicals who had their complete packets. However, this was not the case on the day of the event. She did not bring her entire class, just 3 students and only one student had their paperwork and unfortunately the paperwork was not completed. It was very heartbreaking to inform the students they were not able to receive physicals due to their missing or incomplete packets.

For the future Medfest event, the school lead should be a physical contact for the teachers and should be the one to deliver the paperwork directly to the teachers. The school lead should build a relationship with the teachers in order to ensure that there is no miscommunications when it came to the packets being completed. There should be minimal middle man interactions as to that leads to confusion and misunderstanding of roles. 

We had problems with the scheduling as well as we were not given the schedule of the students participating in the event until the evening before the event due to confidentiality. This made it difficult to make a schedule for the students to ensure that the event was organized and we had the proper buddy in place for each student. We attempted to make a schedule with the students that had their complete paperwork turned in, but on the day of the event we had to play it by ear and make it up as we went. 

Regardless of all the problems, the event turned out to be amazing! Healthcare professionals were able to gain hand on skills and expand their knowledge of working with individuals with intellectual disabilities. The next step is to ensure that Medfest is a yearly event at Campbell and bigger than ever.The hope is to expand Medfest to all of Harnett county schools. Although this will take more planning and logistics, I have hope that the next cohort can figure out how to make it happen. 

This practicum has expanded my knowledge of Special Olympics as well as individuals with disabilities. I really enjoyed working with the group of amazing individuals I was partnered with. Although, we each had varying personalities, we knew how to communicate and hold each other accountable ensuring that we were getting things done. I hope to continue the work I have started with Special Olympics North Carolina in the future as a volunteer. Go TEAM Medfest!

[abigailkarikari]

Wednesday, November 7th- We all went to Overhills High School after our class to set up for the first Harnett County Medfest. We brought in all the equipment that were going to be used, the snacks and water as well as . We rearranged the three class rooms that will be used during the event. We set up the stations in the health occupation room for the providers. We received news over the weekend that the Athlete participation forms that were returned were not completed. It seems there was a miscommunication somewhere and they were not certain of what consisted of the complete packet. At this point only one complete packet. Dr. Tillman had to print the Athlete packets and hand deliver them to the teachers at the high to make sure that they had the complete packet. We received news that there had been an increase rate of students returning the packet and we officially had 10 complete packets.

 As the school liaison, I had to email the teachers to ensure that they were proactive in sending the packets home and reminding the students to bring them back. i also called the middle school teacher as she had not been responding to any of my emails.She assured me that she had 14 students attending the event who will be getting physicals and 18 in total who will be visiting the wellness fair. This reassured us that we would have enough students participating in the event.We are very excited for tomorrow to come!!

[abigailkarikari]

On Monday October 29th, We visited Overhills High School to give the Health Occupation students an idea of how the event will look and what their roles will be during the event. We shared with them the history of Special Olympics and the Medfest event. We also went into details about the buddy system that we will be using during the event. The buddy system is a way to partner the students getting the physicals with the Health Occupation students. They were very excited about the event and couldn’t wait to help for the Medfest event. Harnett Medfest is just a week away and we are all excited to have this event. 

[abigailkarikari]

We met to work on our presentation for the Health Occupational students on October 29th. We decided what our roles will be during this presentation. I will be taking videos and pictures during this presentation. We will also do a walk through to show the students what their duties will be. Can’t wait for this presentation!

[abigailkarikari]

Week 8: We had a conference call with our very own Harnett county Special Olympics Program Coordinator, Ms. Holly Watts! She wanted to clarify information in regards to the paperwork that were tuned in to the teachers. She has been an integral part of the event planning as she has been working with the school system for quite some time. During this meeting we updated the goals that we had set as a group as well as individually.  I have been in communication with the teachers to figure out how many students have turned in their Athlete Participation forms. I have only received responses from the elementary school and I am waiting to hear back from the others.   

[abigailkarikari]

This week we got together to figure out what everyone’s roles are for the week. We created a flow for the event, utilizing the two classrooms and the hut (outisde classroom) for our event. We will be working with Health Occupational students from Overhills High School, these students will be using the buddy system which will have them partnering up with the student athletes and assisting them through the physicals. It started to get busy as we approach the event. There’s a lot to consider in the planning of this event and we are excited for Harnett county Medfest!! 

[abigailkarikari]

On September 21st, Team Medfest had the opportunity to attend Medfest in Charlotte, NC to Observe and volunteer in the event. By participating in th event we were actually able to get a feel of how the event works and which areas don’t work to apply to our upcoming event. In this event they had all kind of health care providers aiding in giving the health screenings and physicals. They had a section for vision, vitals, dental, and the physicals.  These are all necessary needs of the Special Olympics population. 

My role as a volunteer at this event was to assists athletes who have checked in from room to room. This started out as such,but over time I tended to stay in one room with the athletes as they didn’t want to be left alone in the rooms. From this experience I learned that having a buddy system will be helpful when the student athletes in our event get their physicals as many athletes require assistance. The buddy system will ensure that the student athletes are always accompanied by a volunteers to receive their physicals. 

This experience allowed me to thing about how our event will be planned and the logistics that goes into this event. During our meeting, we confirmed that the CVs were received, we created a flyer and distributed the parent and teacher letters through an email to the teachers. Local Special Olympics program coordinator will take printed copies of the Athlete Participation Packets and deliver them to the teachers at OHS, OMS, and OES. The teachers will then give them to students to take home for their parents to sign and return. 

We also made an Instagram and Twitter in order to post about our event and increase the public’s education of what Special Olympics is about as well as why this event exists in the first place. Through this we are able to reach more people and garner interest in our event. 

We are moving along in the planning of Harnett County’s first Medfest and focusing on out individual roles. I am in communication with the teachers, but it’s a bit difficult because I have not been able to get a reply from them all. It’s been only one teacher replying so far, but I will not let that bring me down. I will keep performing my room as best as I can. 

Stay tuned for more on Team Medfest!  

[abigailkarikari]

Tuesday September 18th: Due to Hurricane Florence, school was cancelled and team Medfest had to do separate conference call for the weekly meeting. In this conference call we connected with Dr.Tillman and our preceptor Ellen, we discussed how we will be planning medfest. As a team we decided what the individual roles will be: Tayler, is the Volunteer Lead, Anna is the Medical Lead, Brittany is the logistics lead, Kelsey as the Wellness lead, and Hannah as the event lead. I am the school lead. As the school lead, I will oversee school participation, transportation of the students, completion of all athlete forms, and any other school-related logistics. I will be the primary contact with the teachers in the Elementary, Middle and High School. I will ensure they have the necessary paperwork to provide to students such as the Athlete Participation Form for their parents to fill out.  I will also be communicating with the Harnett County EC Data Manager, Ms. Turlington and the Assistant Principal of Overhills High School.in order to have them act as a liaison between the teachers and I.  During the phone call I was tasked with getting the emails of the teachers involved in Medfest to introduce myself as the school lead and explain what Medfest event is and what it entails 

During the phone call,Ellen explained that the clinical directors will have to take an online training module in order for them to be certified as clinical directors. Dr. Tillman confirmed that the event was good to go on all front as we have approval from both Campbell and the high school the event will be occurring at. He also stated that we have two providers who will be taking the training to become clinical directors.  Anna, the Medical lead will be ensuring that Dr. Tillman receives the CVs of these providers and be given to Ellen to start the process. Anna will also ensure that we have a hospital for the athletes who received referrals after the physicals to go to. Tayler will begin the search for both medical volunteers and general volunteers. Hannah will begin the process to make the flyers and draft the parent and teacher letters of Medfest. Kelsey will be applying for a grant to purchase the things needed for the event and the Wellness Fair. Lastly, Brittany will begin a list of the medical equipment needed for the event and contact the PA school for the equipment.

This coming Friday, Team Medfest will be attending Charlotte Medfest to experience Medfest for ourselves and take away details from that event to apply to our event on November 8th. I am very excited to experience this event for myself! 

[abigailkarikari]

On 9/10 the Medfest team went to Overhills High School and did a walk though of the classroom we will be using to host the Harnett County Medfest. We were joined by Dr. TIillman, Tara, the assistant principle, Holly, special Olympics coordinator and her daughter an athlete, as well as Lu Ann the exceptional children data manager. We will be working closely with each of these individuals on the logistics of the event. Stay tuned as we continue planning this amazing event!

[abigailkarikari]

This last Tuesday 9//4, Team Medfest had out very first conference call with Ellen and Dr. Tillman. We were able to discuss further the schools that will be participating. We also organized a meeting with the local SONC coordinator Holly Watt at Overhills High to check out the classroom and facility we will be using for the Medfest event on Monday 9/10.

[abigailkarikari]

Week #2: Team MedFest met on Tuesday, 8/28 to go over the resources that we received from our preceptor, Ellen. As we started talking to one another, we realized we had more questions than answers about the event. We wrote down all the questions we had and went down to Dr. Tillman’s office to gain some insight. We learned that a lot of the planning stages are underway. He informed us that he had been in contact with the Medical and PA schools at CU and will be updating us on the progress. We will be meeting with Ellen and Dr. Tillman next week Tuesday to learn more about planning Medfest. Stay tuned for the next post!

[abigailkarikari]

Meet the members of Harnett County Team Medfest! We had our initial meeting with Ellen Fahey, Health Director for Special Olympics North Carolina (SONC) yesterday, 08/24. We went to the SONC office and met several departments members as well as a Special Olympics athlete, Annie. We learned a lot about the start of the Special Olympics and why Medfest was created for these athletes. We are very excited to bring Medfest to Harnett County and getting the Special Olympics athletes the physicals necessary to compete!