St. Charles Bend offers free heart screenings for teens to prevent cardiac arrests

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- According to the Mayo Clinic anywhere between 1 in 50 thousand and 1 in 100 thousand young athletes die from sudden cardiac arrests.

But here in Central Oregon, St. Charles Bend is working to prevent those tragedies before they happen.

Through their free teen testing event on Saturday, they allowed teens to have their hearts checked for potential heart disease. 

I spoke with Cheryl Rodgers and Mary Taft, two mothers who were both impacted by sudden cardiac arrest.

Mary Taft told KTVZ News, “We both have, multi-sport athletes who never complain of dizziness, shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, nothing that would ever, as a parent, give you any indication that something was deeply wrong inside.”

Cheryl Rodgers said, “You think you've got a child that's doing great athletically, pushing the limits, and you have no idea of the hidden heart issues that could be there. At any time, they could just drop.”

Taft’s daughter Nina was playing at a soccer tournament 3 years ago when she collapsed on the sidelines from a sudden cardiac arrest.

Luckily a quick reaction allowed her to get life-saving care.

Dr. Tiffany Lim, a pediatric cardiologist at St. Charles Bend, described what the tests are like.

Dr. Lim told KTVZ News, “At our screening event, we obtain a screening EKG, a limited echo, and we also screened for high blood pressure.”

Dr. Lin Continued, “Oftentimes, kids or even adults don't know that they have this condition. One of the first signs of it is collapse, sudden collapse, or even sudden death. So that's why this screening is so important, so that we can prevent those things from happening in our community and in our young student athletes.”

The event also taught the teenagers how to perform CPR and administer an AED

You can find more information at The St. Charles Foundation.