Darren Sudman led a passionate discussion about the importance of heart screenings for young athletes. Many in the youth sports world do not realize that sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is the #1 cause of death of student-athletes.
Why do we require screening tests for hearing, BMI and vision, and yet we never think to examine the heart. Even in the required sports physicals, the heart is not examined.
In addition to the failures to diagnose any defects in advance, the lack of AED’s is a significant factor in the number of SCA deaths each year. Darren shares the importance of raising the awareness of SCA in a fashion similar to the rapid growth in awareness which occurred with regard to concussions.
While many focus entirely on the costs, compared to the toll a death would take on a family or the medical expenses which would be incurred in one ambulance transport, having cardiologists read the EKG and ECHO test results would seem like a small cost.
Even the time objection which is frequently raised, loses its credibility when you see that the EKG would take 2-5 minutes per athlete and the ECHO would take only 5-10 minutes.
Tune in and learn as Darren walks our members through the best way to approach implementing a heart screening program.
CLICK BELOW TO WATCH THE VIDEO OF DARREN’S PRESENTATION OFF OUR SPORTS PHILANTHROPY NETWORK YOU TUBE CHANNEL.
CLICK ON THE PDF BELOW TO ACCESS THE SLIDES AND OUTLINE OF THE INFORMATION FOR DARREN’S PRESENTATION ON THE SPORTS PHILANTHROPY WEBINAR
