YOUNG HEARTS FOR LIFE: Students Screened at Montini Catholic High School

Young Hearts for Life

STUDENTS SCREENED AT MONTINI CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL

BY LARRY ATSEFF

Fourteen years ago, after reading reports of U.S. teens who had no previous signs of heart problems suddenly collapsing and dying, and learning from the American Heart Association that nearly 60 young adults die every week in the U.S. from sudden cardiac death, local cardiologist Dr. Joseph Marek asked, “Why aren’t we doing something to prevent this?”

Marek reasoned that the vast majority of these deaths are preventable if the potentially lethal heart defect is diagnosed in time and treated properly. He also knew that typical school or sports physicals detect only four percent of students that are at risk for sudden cardiac death, because a stethoscope simply cannot detect certain cardiac-impulse patterns that affect heart rhythms.

After a Chicago area student-athlete died suddenly from an undiagnosed heart condition, he decided to found Young Hearts for Life (YH4L) in 2006. The program set out to screen high-school students for those “silent,” undetected cardiac rhythm abnormalities that can, without warning, bECGme immediately catastrophic.

Early on, to overcome cost and manpower issues, Marek developed a system of training community volunteers to properly run screening programs that would be free to all students. Each screening is read on-site by volunteer cardiologists who are specially trained and experienced in identifying “markers” associated with the leading causes of sudden cardiac death.

In January, YH4L performed its 250,000th free electrocardiogram (ECG) on a Plainfield East High School student. Today, it is the number one heart screening program in the country, and YH4L data serves as a benchmark worldwide for physicians to interpret ECG's in this agegroup.

“We never set out to be the biggest; we just wanted to make a difference in the lives of young people," Marek said. "Our amazing growth is because of the energy and commitment given so generously by thousands of volunteers and donors.” Young Hearts for Life fact-sheet

Young Hearts for Life fact-sheet

Since 2006, YH4L has conducted 250 high-school screenings, 40 college screenings and six screenings for athletic teams. During the 2018-19 school-year, 27,090 students at 25 schools were screened, and the largest single-day screening saw 2,300 students.

A total of 2,985 students have been diagnosed with heart abnormalities, ranging from mild to life-threatening.

More than 17,000 volunteers have been trained to perform ECG's. With the Young Hearts For Life toolkit, groups throughout the U.S. can now start their own programs in their communities.

YH4L outreach resources include emergency action plan training for school staff members and trainers, educational talks about preventing cardiac death to physicians and community groups and high-school and college boards for students interested in supporting the organization.

YH4L has started a gold heart family group which provides families who have lost a child or sibling with support through interaction with other families who have faced the same unimaginable loss.

The work of YH4L is supported entirely by donations and sponsors as a charity under the umbrella of the Advocate Charitable Foundation. ■

For more information, contact program director Kathy Marek at 630-310-2136 or 630-841- 7971 (cellular), or via e-mail at Kathleen. Marek@advocatehealth.com.