We have posted a photo gallery of our Ribs For Hearts fundraiser! Thanks again to ALL who participated!
Gallery here: https://heartforathletes.org/galleries
Preventing Sudden Cardiac Arrest in Youth
By admin
We have posted a photo gallery of our Ribs For Hearts fundraiser! Thanks again to ALL who participated!
Gallery here: https://heartforathletes.org/galleries
By Amy Cockrell
We are in the final stretch now… the deadline to order you slab of pork spareribs is Wednesday, February 18th at noon. Fox 10 highlighted our fundraiser Monday on their Studio Ten show. To go to their website and see the highlights, click here.
Our goal was to sell #300 slabs of ribs and we are currently at #215. We are getting closer!
There are three ways that you can support Heart for Athletes through Fired Up, Inc.
1) Order a slab of ribs for $30. Order extra! They will store great in the freezer and you can reheat them anytime!
2) For $100 your family or business can help us offset the cost of the event so that even more of our money will go back into the community via heart screenings for our youth and CPR/AED awareness. You will be recognized at the event and on our Heart for Athletes website. Click here to sponsor our event!
3) For a $750 sponsorship, you can have your own Fired Up rib event! #25 slabs of ribs will be cooked on the date at the location of your choice! Call Amy (251-510-7263) for more details and you will be contacted by a Fired Up, Inc representative.
Order deadline for this event: Wednesday, February 18th at NOON
Order pick up: Saturday, February 28th from 12pm-5pm
Location: Prodisee Center parking lot, near the Rite Aid in Spanish Fort
Conditions that lead to sudden cardiac arrest are often detectable and deaths CAN be prevented! THANK YOU for supporting Heart for Athletes and helping bring cardiac screenings our young athletes.
And THANK YOU Fired Up, Inc. for making this fundraising opportunity available!
By Amy Cockrell
Lenise Ligon will mention the Heart for Athletes fundraiser on the 9pm newscast tonight on the Fox 10 WALA news. Our first day of advertising for the event as been a huge success!
Please help continue to spread the word about the event. There are three ways to support our event –
1) $30 for a slab of ribs!
2) $100 or more for corporate sponsorship to offset wholesale cost of ribs
3) $750 for your own private Fired Up rib event (You pick date and location in Baldwin or Mobile county)!
Click HERE for all the detail and to donate now!
If you’d like to support Heart for Athletes by purchasing one of our Comfort Color t-shirt for $20, donate here and let me know your size!
By Amy Cockrell
Heart for Athletes has held three screening events since its first in August, just two months ago. 334 children, ages 13-18 have been screened to possibly identify the five main causes of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in youth. The five major causes of SCA looked for are: aortic root enlargement, dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, long QT syndrome (LQTS) and Wolf Parkinson White (WPW). Through a simple EKG test, one case of both WPW and LQTS were discovered. Statistically, for every 100 kids screened, one child with a risk factor for SCA will be found.
Heart for Athletes is making a difference. You can help us continue with our primary mission purpose of keeping kids in our area safe from SCA through cardiac screenings.
First, if you would like to host a heart screening event at your local high school in Baldwin or Mobile county, have you athletic director contact Heart for Athletes. Second, we need donations. Through the help of about #25 community volunteers and donated equipment at each event, we have been able to bring these events to our area, but costs are incurred. Any donation amount would be appreciated. Check out this video to see how one person in our area, a dad of one of the kids we screened, is helping to “Give Boldly.”
By Amy Cockrell
Immediately after sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), bystanders will often witness seizure like activity followed by shallow attempts at breathing. What is happening to the SCA victim? Victims often have an hypoxic seizure (tonic phase). This is caused by oxygen deprivation due to ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. This phase is often mistaken as an epileptic seizure. The seizure like activity is followed by agonal breathing. Agonal breathing is an attempt of the memory of the facial, neck and intercostal muscles making a failed attempt to breath without cerebral (brain) coordination and the diaphragm muscle. Agonal breathing is only gasps – the chest does not rise and fall. the patient’s body is not being oxygenated properly. Bystanders often do nothing because they think the person is breathing.
What should you do? The first thought when you see a young person fall unresponsive is to check for a pulse. After 911 has been called, CPR should be started immediately, and an AED should be obtained. For every minute that passes without the use of an AED/CPR, the victim’s chance of survival decreases by 10%. On average, out to hospital victims have less than a 8% chance of survival.
To view a simulation of a sudden cardiac arrest with agonal respirations, click here.
By Amy Cockrell
Heart for Athletes will hold a heart screening event at Foley High School on Thursday, October 9th from 12pm-4pm.
Students attending should bring the following paperwork to the screening event: HFA Med History / consent form (Please note: parental signature required on pages 2 AND 3).
For event details, click here.
This event is being provided to students FREE of charge, however, it costs approximately $25 per athlete to conduct the screening. Event sponsorships and donations are greatly needed.
Students making a $50 donation or more will get a “I got my Heart Screened” Heart for Athletes t-shirt.
Checks may be made payable to Hearts for Athletes Charitable Trust. Donations are tax deductible and may be made online here.
Thank you for your support!
By Amy Cockrell
Heart for Athletes will hold a heart screening event at Spanish Fort High School on Thursday, September 25th from 12pm-4pm. Spanish Fort High students interested in attending should bring their SIGNED and completed paperwork to the screening event.
A copy of the 5-page form can be downloaded HFA waiver:release:survey.
This event is being provided to students FREE of charge, however, it costs approximately $25 per athlete to conduct the screening. Event sponsorships and donations are greatly needed. Anyone making a $50 donation or more will get a Heart for Athletes t-shirt. Checks may be made payable to Hearts for Athletes. Donations are tax deductible and may be made online here.
Thank you for your support!
By Amy Cockrell
Jack Lastorka, President of Baseball at Grand Bay ballpark in Mobile, is presented with an automated external defibrillator (AED) from Heart for Athletes. An AED is a portable device designed to read the heart rhythm of a person in Sudden Cardiac Arrest and potentially deliver a life saving shock. Many locations now have AEDs. Major department stores, shopping centers, malls, airports, community centers, schools and ballparks have installed them. The Grand Bay ballpark can now be added to the list of places in our community that have this life saving device.
The AED was donated to Heart for Athletes by the Lord Wedgwood Charity, based in the Birmingham area.
By Amy Cockrell
Red Ribbon Leader nominee, J.T. Lastorka, from Grand Bay Middle School, is helping Heart for Athletes bring awareness to sudden cardiac arrest in youth. To help keep kids at his school safe if a SCA occurs, Lastorka is initiating fundraising efforts that will go toward the purchase of an automated external defibrillator (AED) for the athletic department at the middle school.
By Amy Cockrell
Daphne High School Swim Team member David Wildebrandt receives a heart screening Aug. 16, 2014.
Dr. Lynn Batten, director of the division of pediatric cardiology at the University of South Alabama, recently partnered with Heart for Athletes to conduct a free heart screening event for high school athletes.
“We screened 62 athletes with no significant abnormalities found,” Dr. Batten said. “It ran very smoothly, and we do plan to host another event this fall.”
The Heart for Athletes heart screening included a health history form, blood pressure check, an EKG, and a brief echo. The EKG is a recording of the electrical activity of the heart, and the echo captures images of the heart with ultrasound. All EKG’s and echos were read by Dr. Batten. Other demonstrations, such as CPR and AED (automated external defibrillator) training, were also provided.
“We’d like to especially thank our USA volunteers, Gretchen Dempsey, Margaret Johnston, Iris Fulton, Dr. Lamya Mubayed, Katie Laycock, Matt Cauley, Mary Emily Davidson, Sheri Fisher, Howard Holcomb, and Donna Copeland,” Dr. Batten said. “And, of course, none of it would’ve happened without Amy Cockrell, who did an amazing job of organizing the event.”
To learn more about Heart for Athletes, click here.
From University of South Alabama’s Med School Watercooler