Beaumont team shares Student Heart Check program with California hospital

Beaumont’s cardiology team has been supporting a popular Student Heart Check program for local high school students since 2007. The free program is funded by the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals at Beaumont Children’s. On Oct. 21, a team from Beaumont traveled to Salinas, California to share their expertise with a fellow Children’s Miracle Network, CMN, Hospital: Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital.

“I was contacted in June of last year by Melissa Gross, Salinas Valley CMN coordinator,” said Jennifer Shea, manager Student Heart Check Program, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, Beaumont. “Through the CMN organization, she had heard about the success we were having with our program and was interested in finding out more. The result was a positive introduction of the program at a high school in their community.”

Beaumont created the Student Heart Check screening program in May 2007. Since then, Beaumont has screened 13,793 Michigan high school students. Of those students, 179 were told to stop sports and follow up with a cardiologist due to heart abnormalities and seven were diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the single most common cause of death among U.S. athletes. Nearly 4,000 of these deaths are among young people, and one in 200,000 high school athletes will die suddenly, most without any prior symptoms. In addition, male athletes are 10 times more likely to die suddenly as a result of HCM.

The free student heart screening takes about an hour and includes a medical history, blood pressure check, an electrocardiogram or ECG, and a “quick-look” echocardiogram, an ultrasound image of the heart.

More than 70 students from Gonzales High Schools in California received a free heart screening performed by the medical team of Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. Jennifer Shea and Monique Brand, cardiology manager, Beaumont, Royal Oak, were on hand to help with the event. Two of the students were found to have complications and were referred to their cardiologist for additional testing.

Based on the success of the Oct. 21 screenings, the team at Salinas Valley will be hosting additional screenings.

The Student Heart Check program is supported by Max and Debra Ernst through the Ernst Cardiovascular Center at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak; the Fraternal Order of Eagles; Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals; the Charlie Sanders Foundation; the LiveLikeMax Foundation; Jersey Mike’s; the fundraising efforts of 97.1 FM The Ticket; and others in the community. Find out more at www.beaumont.org/student-heart...