Heart Screenings This Saturday
Simon’s Heart Organization to Provide Free Heart Screenings to Washington Township Students on October 13th
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP – Washington Township youth ages 12 to 19 will have the opportunity to receive an invaluable health check when Simon’s Heart brings free heart screenings to students on Saturday, October 13, 2018, at Washington Township High School. The event will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the 11/12 building gymnasium.
The screenings are being made possible thanks to a partnership between Jefferson Hospital Washington Township, Washington Township High School the Sharp family in memory of Nadiir King, and Simon’s Heart – a non-profit organization started by the family of Simon Sudman, who was not yet four months old when he died of sudden infant death syndrome. After doctors directed Simon’s parents to have their hearts checked, his mother, Phyllis, was diagnosed with Long QT Syndrome, which has been linked to 15 percent of SIDS deaths and can cause sudden cardiac arrest in children. The Sharp family is honoring the memory of King, who passed away in 2014 at the age of 14 from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a condition that causes parts of the heart muscle to thicken, making it difficult for the heart to pump blood regularly. He was an eighth-grader at Chestnut Ridge Middle School.
The screenings are intended for students who never have received an ECG exam or been examined by a cardiologist. The test will look for undetected heart conditions that could lead to sudden cardiac arrest and death in the young, but is not considered a substitute for annual pediatric well visits. Costs for the screenings have been underwritten thanks to donations from other local parents.
To take part in the screenings, students will need to complete consent, medical history and family history forms. Registration is available at https://simonsheart.org/?event=protect-this-heart-screening-sewell-nj.
-WTPS -