Young Hearts for Life screens 200,000th student

Lyons Township High School junior Katelyn McCann, of LaGrange Highlands, was the 200,000th student to be screened by the Young Hearts for Life® (YH4L) Cardiac Screening Program. The screening took place on April 20 at LT.

LT hosted YH4L and offered students a free electrocardiogram heart screening to identify teenagers at risk of sudden cardiac death. Approximately 1080 South Campus students were screened April 19 and 782 North Campus students were screened April 20. In total, 15 students were referred for further testing.

Young Hearts for Life was formed in 2006 by Dr. Joseph Marek, an internationally recognized cardiologist. YH4L is known for its unique model that uses trained community volunteers to deliver a low cost, efficient heart screening for area high schools.

Each week, sudden cardiac death claims the lives of more than 60 young adults in the United States. To date, more than 2,400 students screened through YH4L have been identified as at risk students. Of those, hundreds were found to have life threatening conditions.

Young Hearts for Life is the largest cardiac screening program in the United States. Part of the goal of YH4L is to educate the community about sudden death in young adults and to help schools be prepared to deal with cardiac arrest if one was to occur.