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KEVS Foundation helps students get heart-smart

Daily Hampshire Gazette - 3/17/2018

@mjtidwell781

NORTHAMPTON — On Friday afternoon over a hundred young, healthy students at Northampton High School took heart screening tests and learned about sudden cardiac arrest, a condition when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating.

The screenings were sponsored by KEVS Foundation, a nonprofit founded by the family of Westfield athlete and high school student Kevin Major, who died suddenly in 2011 at age 19 due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM, a condition where the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick and unable to pump blood.

According to the American Heart Association, HCM can affect people of any age or gender and is a common cause of sudden cardiac arrest and death in young people, including young athletes like Major.

A baseball, lacrosse, golf, and rugby player, Major’s family said he had no symptoms prior to July 11, 2011, when he died while swimming in Congamond Lakes in Southwick.

Now, Major’s mother, Susan Canning, has worked through KEVS Foundation to pass legislation requiring automated external defibrillators to be placed in every Massachusetts school by July 2018 in case of cardiac emergency. Canning said the foundation has donated some 90 AEDs western Massachusetts schools.

The foundation has also sponsored 12 screenings so far at local high schools to educate young people about the signs and symptoms of cardiac arrest, how to use an AED and hands-only CPR and to have their own electrocardiogram heart screenings, or EKGs, taken and evaluated by a medical professional, along with height, weight, blood pressure and family history.

“A lot of people have the philosophy that their kid is healthy, so they don’t need to worry about their heart,” Canning said as she helped with Friday’s screenings. “Kevin was a stellar athlete. We had no idea there was a ticking time bomb inside him.”

In the Northampton gym on Friday, Canning moved from station to station, checking in with the students learning CPR on dummies, talking with the students from the Westfield State Physicians Assistant program giving the EKG tests and greeting waiting parents. Dr. Michael Willers of the Children’s Heart Center of Holyoke and Northampton Area Pediatrics physician Dr. Jonathan Schwab went over screening results with students.

Kim Duval, the mother of a Northampton lacrosse player who was waiting for her son to finish his screening on Friday, said she was grateful to KEVS Foundation for sponsoring the screenings, as otherwise an EKG test would not be covered by her insurance.

Her son, she said, originally felt that the screening was a waste of time, as he is very healthy and athletic. She said she explained to him the importance of screening even when there are no symptoms.

According to the Mayo Clinic, young athletes are at particular risk for sudden cardiac arrest, but it’s difficult to measure how many people are affected.

“Cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in young athletes… Perhaps 1 in every 50,000 sudden cardiac deaths a year occurs in young athletes,” according to the clinic.

The screenings, which are typically valued at $3,000, according to KEVS Foundation, are free of charge for all students interested in participating, with a request for donations based on financial ability. 125 students registered for the screening at NHS.

Ben Raivel, a Northampton junior who runs cross country and both indoor and outdoor track and field, said he came to be screened at the behest of his parents, but was relieved to leave knowing all his tests came out normal. He added that there was good information available at the event, some of which he already knew from lifeguard training.

Students learned about the American Heart Association’s “cardiac chain-of-survival,” a four-step response in case of cardiac arrest that includes calling 911, doing CPR to support circulation to the heart and brain until normal heart activity is restored, defibrillation using an AED, and getting the person treated by EMS and hospital personnel as quickly as possible.

Olivia Lombardi, a Northampton sophomore who plays hockey, field hockey and track and field, said that the importance of EKG screenings has been discussed during meetings for her various sports.

“It’s always in the back of your mind when you hear these stories of kids who just died and no one knows why,” Lombardi said. “It’s great that our school is able to do this screening and give us more education.”

She said she’d like for the school to have training each year for CPR, adding that she remembers how to do chest compressions to the tune of the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” from a training freshman year, but that it would be helpful to have a refresher every year.

Katie Lienert, a Northampton sophomore who plays field hockey and lacrosse, said she hadn’t signed up for the day’s screening, but it’s something she wants to do after reading some of the available literature on Friday.

“You just never know,” she said. “Someone can look perfectly healthy on the outside, but you just never know until you get tested.” M.J. Tidwell can be reached at mjtidwell@gazettenet.com.

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