#medfest

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. 

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.