The Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce celebrated new member, Heart for Athletes with a ribbon cutting. Heart for Athletes is a non-profit organization that provides free heart screenings to teens in the Baldwin and Mobile county areas. Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is the number one cause of death in athletes ages 17-35. Our goal is to find these teens at risk to prevent a SCA so that they can get the preventative care that they need.
"My 16 year old son survived a SCA event in 2013. After his diagnosis of a rare form of cardiomyopathy, I discovered that his condition could have potentially been discovered with a simple EKG. It is my desire to bring awareness to this issue and make EKG testing a regular part of standard sports physicals and pediatric wellness checkups."
Our first screening event was in 2014. We have screened approximately 3,000 children in our community. We have found 10 teens who had heart conditions that require annual follow up because of the potential to cause heart problems as they get older, and we have found 3 who had conditions that put them at serious risk of sudden cardiac arrest.
On average, 1 in 300 children screened will have a condition that puts them at risk for SCA. We have heart screenings planned at each of the Baldwin county public high schools during the 2022-2023 school year.
