SOFit health and wellness

In its continued quest towards total inclusion for the special needs community, the Digicel Foundation has collaborated with its long-standing partner, the Special Olympics of Trinidad and Tobago (SOTT), to implement a health and wellness programme, SOFit.

The programme is geared towards improving and encouraging healthy lifestyles, by focusing on physical activity, weight management, balanced meals and general health and wellness of persons with special needs, their families and caregivers.

The programme will run in the following schools — Goodwill Industries, National Centre for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD), Lady Hochoy School, Penal, Lady Hochoy School, Cocorite and the Tobago School for the Deaf, Speech and Language Impaired.

Digicel Foundation has invested over $101,000 in this initiative. At the launch on September 20, foundation CEO Penny Gomez, stated: “We are hoping that the sustainable element of this programme develops a strategic partnership with the Ministry of Health through our community health institutions.

A partnership like this will aid in building a stronger bond among the schools, and families of persons with special needs with our local clinics and health care facilitators.”

Ferdinand Bibby, national director of the SOTT said it intended to provide athletes and their caregivers with strategies for a 360 degree look at wellness and the human spirit.

The programme will be used to further drive healthy lifestyle habits at schools and reinforce those lessons at home.