Recovery footwear maker O0fos has re-upped on its partnered with Special Olympics New Jersey (SONJ) for a second year, supporting Healthy Athletes as part of the SONJ State Games and Special Olympics USA Games for individuals with intellectual disabilities.
The Braintree, MA-based company became involved with the organization in 2017 through its ongoing work with Robert Conenello, DPM, the clinical director for SONJ. For 20 years, Dr. Conenello has been involved in the SONJ Healthy Athletes program, which offers screenings in podiatry, audiology, dentistry, optometry, physical therapy, health education and physical examinations. He oversees the Fit Feet podiatry program across the state. After learning about Oofos nearly seven years ago, Dr. Conenello saw great potential for a partnership through which every SONJ athlete would be gifted a pair of its shoes.
“These athletes are all underserved,” states Dr. Conenello, who has individuals take off their shoes and socks so he can provide musculoskeletal, dermatologic and gait analysis, and observe, examine and screen to identify gross abnormalities. “They’re usually wearing really bad flip-flops and slides, the wrong size of shoe, or the wrong shoe for the activity.”
“We are honored to provide our game-changing recovery footwear to these athletes,” says Steve Gallo, president of Oofos. “Our mission is to make ‘yOO’ feel better and this was a great opportunity to help these athletes do so by helping them recover faster!”
This year SONJ hosted 2,500 athletes at its Summer Games, where they competed in bocce, track and field, softball, swimming, powerlifting, gymnastics and tennis. Dr. Conenello screened 332 athletes over the course of two days and referred 61 for additional follow-up care. Oofos donated product to all athletes who were screened.
