Stand Up For Our Kids: The Power of Screening

In today's episode, we highlight that September is Children's Cardiomyopathy Awareness Month. We talk about saving our kids with a more comprehensive physical screening. According to our guest, Sharon Bates, comprehensive screenings -- beyond the standard sports physical -- find 1 in 7 kids with potentially life-threatening cardiac issues. Sharon is the CEO of (www.anthonybates.org).

Sharon experienced one of the worst nightmares for a parent. She lost her son, Anthony, to an undiagnosed heart condition, Hypertropic Cardiomyopathy. Anthony was just 20 years old when it happened. An avid athlete, he has many sports medicine physicals throughout his sporting career, yet no one found this ticking time bomb.

Since then, Sharon founded Anthony Bates Foundation and has provided free or low cost screenings to 15,000 participants – from 10 to 24 years old – ONE of SEVEN were found to have cardiac issues. The group also donates Automatic External Defibrillators AEDs to event host schools. At the end of 2018, ABF donated 110 lifesaving units. 

 Listener takeaways:

• What parents should know before signing their kids up for sports
• More than 900 Americans succumb to sudden cardiac arrest per day -- nearly 400,000 per year; of that, just under 10% survive
• Parents can take action by setting up screenings at their schools to find that one in seven child with an underlying heart condition
• Hypertropic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) does not have any indicators
• How to work with your school and local medical teams to set up screenings
• Why we all need to know CPR and how to use AEDs