Screens for Teens

There was an exceptionally good feeling going around the halls of Stevenson High School last week. The school celebrated Heart Health Week, which included free EKG screening to all students who had their parent’s signed consent.

Often on the news we hear the tragic stories of the far too many young adults who die suddenly from an undetected heart problem. The Max Schewitz Foundation is bound and committed to change that.

Mary Beth Schewitz is one of the founders of this organization as her son, Max, died unexpectedly in 2005 from an undetected cardiac arrhythmia. Together with family and friends, The Max Schewitz Foundation was created in part, to support education, prevention and research of Sudden Cardiac Death in young people.

The EKG or electrocardiogram is crucial in helping to find any problematic heart conditions. The test uses markers that can detect irregularities that wouldn’t necessarily be found with a traditional stethoscope exam. So providing this program, Screens for Teens, sponsored through Max’s foundation, is an incredible tool to help in detection and thus prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death.

Mary Beth was an incredible woman to speak with. Her knowledge, her honesty and her hands on approach to the day was remarkable. She had a slew of foundation helpers who had the process of providing the 2,600 Stevenson kids with an EKG, down to a science. Really, though, it was also the army of Stevenson parent volunteers who made the day a huge success. About 200 parents were trained on how to perform the test while others worked on data entry, filing and paperwork.

The day I volunteered was a true testament of our community coming together for the greater good.

For a full two days, students were tested in private, curtained cubicles led by a team of parent volunteers. Boys and girls were completely separated and were screened either during their gym period, study hall, during lunch or before school. I took a break from my data entry post and met up with a group of moms who were on a break. All residents from Buffalo Grove, they each had different reasons as to why they wanted to take part of this event. Peggy Weil, with a freshman daughter at SHS, came because she has a family member with a heart murmur so she felt connected with the cause. Dana Price has three sophomores at SHS, and felt she should volunteer because she is a nurse so this is something she felt close to. Carol Pitts has a sophomore at SHS and wanted to help out because it’s not only a worthy cause, but also because she’s new to the area and thought it would be a good way to meet other parents. Mom and volunteer Mia Weaver said, “I just always volunteer for everything.”

Whatever their reasons, they were all good. Mary Beth said out of the 20,000 EKGs they’ve done so far, about 330 have required some type of further evaluation and she knows they’ve saved hundreds of lives. I’m certain that with Max’s strong beliefs in education and conservation, he’s beaming with pride of the foundation's endeavors.

As always, email me with any news, topics or ideas that you want to read about. Remember, I’d like to be the first to know! I can be reached at laurenbgpatch@aol.com.