Free heart screenings for C.O. HS athletes

Central Oregon high school students have the opportunity to receive a free heart screening for life-threatening heart defects on Nov. 13 as part of an initiative by the Children’s Heart Fund, a program of the St. Charles Foundation.

Up to 120 student athletes in grades nine through 12 will receive an electrocardiogram, or EKG, which checks for problems with the heart’s electrical activity; an echocardiogram, or ECHO, which uses sound waves to create a moving picture of the heart, and a blood pressure check.

The screenings, which will be held at the St. Charles Heart and Lung Center at 2500 NE Neff Road between 5 and 8 p.m., will help detect five conditions:

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Long QT syndrome
Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome
Aortic aneurysm
Aortic stenosis

To register, call 541.706.2787.

The Children’s Heart Fund hopes to provide 1,000 heart screenings to Central Oregon high school athletes throughout the next year. The next heart screenings are scheduled for Feb. 12 and May 14.

The program is funded entirely through donations to the Children’s Heart Fund.

About St. Charles Foundation

As the philanthropic arm of St. Charles Health System, the Foundation works to support and improve health care in Central and Eastern Oregon. Private donations raised by the Foundation allow St. Charles to build new medical facilities, purchase state-of-the-art medical equipment, keep pace with the latest technological advances and deliver exceptional patient care in a healing environment. The Foundation does more than just raise money for bricks and mortar. The organization also raises money to support many programs that benefit low-income and uninsured patients.