Free Heart Screenings for Lemont High School Students

With the support of generous donors, Lemont High School is partnering with Young Hearts for Life and Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital to offer all Lemont High School students free cardiac screenings. The Young Hearts for Life (YH4L) Cardiac Screening program will visit Lemont High School on Friday, March 14, 2014. All students whose parents/guardians authorize them to be tested will be screened during the school day.

Young Hearts for Life is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides free cardiac screenings—this includes an electrocardiogram (i.e., EKG or ECG), and also may include an echocardiogram. These screenings help identify high school students who may be at risk for sudden cardiac death. More than 100,000 students have been screened since the inception of the Young Hearts for Life program in 2006.

A simple EKG can be used to screen physically active students and detect certain serious heart conditions. Recording the heart’s electrical activity using electrodes attached to the skin with a mild adhesive, an EKG can detect approximately 60 percent of the “abnormalities” or markers from heart conditions associated with sudden cardiac death. EKG testing is recommended every two years, through the age of 25.

Registration
Parents/guardians are encouraged to discuss EKG screenings with their children. This program is open to all students-athletes and non-athletes, alike—and students’ confidentiality, privacy and modesty will be respected throughout all aspects of the program. Boys and girls will be screened in separate areas.

Parents/guardians who wish to register their children may do so online by visiting Lemont High School’s website, and clicking on the “Young Hearts for Life Cardiac Screenings” page, which is located under the ‘Athletics’ tab. A registration link is available on the right side of the page. It is important that current students who were tested during a previous Young Hearts for Life visit in 2012 be tested again in 2014.

Volunteers Needed
Lemont High School and Young Hearts for Life are seeking both male and female adult volunteers to assist with EKG screenings. Many types of volunteer positions are available; volunteers do not need to have a medical background. Volunteers are needed to check in students, to be “runners,” to apply patches for EKG leads, and to assist in other ways.

Volunteers are needed both for morning and afternoon shifts on March 14. Volunteer training is mandatory, and will be held during the evening on Thursday, March 13.

Those interested in volunteering should visit the “Young Hearts for Life Cardiac Screenings” page on Lemont High School’s Web site and fill out the volunteer sign-up form on the right side of the page. Individuals who have questions about volunteering may submit those questions via e-mail at lhsheartscreen@gmail.com.

For more information on the Young Hearts for Life Cardiac Screening program, contact Young Hearts for Life’s Johneen Davis at 630-785-4366, or visit the Young Hearts for Life website. Questions also may be directed to Lemont High School Athletic Director John Young (johny@lemont.k12.il.us) at 630-243-3210.