OU and Beaumont team up to offer free student heart screenings

Oakland University is teaming up with Beaumont Hospitals and WXYZ-TV7 to offer free heart screenings for local high school students with the Health Edge Heart Check program on Saturday, Nov. 14 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Oakland’s Recreation and Athletic Center.

Providing an in-depth heart screening including a medical history, blood pressure check and ECG, the screening looks for evidence of hypertrophic cardiomyapathy, a serious condition that can cause sudden cardiac death in young athletes and other heart abnormalities.

"The screening takes about 30 minutes," said David Haines, M.D., Beaumont's corporate chief of Cardiovascular Medicine. "Those 30 minutes may save a student's life or provide peace of mind for parents concerned about their child's risk of sudden cardiac death."

Through its student heart screening program, Beaumont has screened more than 3,500 high school students for HCM since May 2007. As a result of the program, 16 students have been advised to stop participating in sports after doctors detected various heart conditions and one student was found to have HCM.

Sudden cardiac death is the leading cause of death in young athletes and HCM is the single most common cause of death among U.S. athletes. Nearly 4,000 of these deaths are among young people, and 1 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.

Beaumont is Michigan's, and one of the nation's, most experienced providers of heart care, ranking 21st on the U.S. News & World Report 2009 list of the "Top 50" hospitals for heart and heart surgery. The Beaumont Heart Center is a comprehensive, state-of-the-art facility that's dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart problems. Beaumont's Ministrelli Women's Heart Center is the first in Michigan devoted exclusively to the prevention, diagnosis, and research of heart disease in women.

There is no charge to participate, but registration is required. Call Beaumont Physician Referral toll-free at 1-800-633-7377 or visit Beaumont online to register.