Guardian EMS began the first of what will be many free 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) screenings to high school athletes in the Brown County area Wednesday morning at Brownwood High School. The reason for the screenings is to find abnormalities of the heart which could result in Sudden Cardiac Death.
These ECG screenings are part of a program that Guardian EMS has launched in conjunction with the Cody Stephens Foundation, which was started by Scott and Melody Stephens after their son suddenly died on May 6, 2012 from an undiagnosed heart condition. If Cody would have had an ECG screening, the heart condition would have been detected, said Guardian EMS Vice President and Chief Operations Officer Ross Bradley. Since his death, Scott Stephens has been using his son’s favorite saying, “Go Big or Go Home” to help raise awareness.
Guardian EMS has been inspired to “Go Big” by offering teen athletes of Brown, Coleman and Comanche Counties free echocardiogram screenings (ECG or EKG).
Beginning at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, approximately 70 Brownwood High School football players were the “guinea pigs” for the new program.
Brownwood Head Coach Chuck Howard stated that he has never been involved in a program that had an athlete suffer Sudden Cardiac Death but that he was glad to have this opportunity for his athletes at BHS. He stated that the screening is very worthwhile even if just one life can be saved.
Guardian EMS is able to use the equipment the company already has and their staff to do primary readings of the tests and use donated supplies to reduce the cost of the testing to approximately $15 per athlete (which is being absorbed by Guardian EMS). Supplies such as ECG lead pads were donated by Henry Shine Medical Supplies and soon, new equipment (the Zoll M Series) to record the test results in a digital format (.pdf file) and supply an internet connection to send these results directly to the physician for further reading is being donated by Zoll Medical, according to Guardian EMS Business Development Manager Jimmy Trowbridge.
“This is a project that has gotten a lot of attention,” said Trowbridge. “We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback.”
Guardian EMS Chief Operations Officer Ross Bradley stated that Dr. John Dunn has been instrumental in getting local cardiologist Dr. Timothy Moore and other local physicians on board to read the abnormal ECGs. Soon paramedics at Air Evac Lifeteam plan to help Guardian with these screenings, said Bradley.
According to Bradley and Trowbridge, the screenings went very well on Wednesday morning.
“It was a learning experience for us today, to figure out the best way to set up for the screenings,” said Bradley, who stated that usually during Guardian’s day-to-day service, there are 2-3 people concentrating on one patient in an ambulance; however, today they were working with 4 paramedics serving about 70 high school athletes.
Trowbridge stated that the day went well, “Today was the pilot program, to work out the ‘bugs’ (of the process). There will be a few changes from what we found today.” He explained that the only thing that needed working on was managing the athletes in a less crowded manner, keeping them back from the screening area while they wait. Otherwise, the equipment worked well and the day was a success.
Paramedic Tara Newton stated that there were some athletes found to have abnormal readings which will be sent on to a local cardiologist to determine if there is anything of concern. If anything of concern is noted by the cardiologist, parents, coaches and student will be informed so that further review of the athlete’s condition can be made.
“Just because we found an abnormal reading does not mean we have found an abnormality, but we don’t want to overlook anything or raise too much concern,” said Trowbridge. “Some of the athletes already knew they had heart murmurs. These findings won’t keep them from doing their every day, day-to-day activities. It is not our goal to stop anyone from playing football or any other sport. If we can help get someone treated, that is the goal.”
Newton stated that she was glad there were some abnormal readings found, because it may help prevent an athlete from suffering a medical problem.
“I’m excited that we found some abnormalities, because we found something that someone is going to be glad to know about,” said Newton.
Guardian EMS will travel to Bangs High School on Thursday at 11:00 a.m. to perform more ECG screenings on athletes. They plan to return to Brownwood High School in the coming days to extend the free ECG screenings to athletes in all sports programs.
Only one school in the Brown County area has not agreed to have their athletes tested by Guardian EMS according to Bradley. Trowbridge stated that he has not given up on that school, (which remains unnamed) and plans to continue contact in hopes of getting the ECG screenings set up soon.
According to Bradley, the company hopes to soon have a community screening which will allow any resident get a screening who desires the testing.
Pictured above paramedics Tara Newton and Donna Vogel perform an ECG on Kory Owen (Sophomore).
Below are more photos of the screening.
Paramedic Amy Roberson (far right) reads the results of an ECG.
Jimmy Trowbridge (pictured above right) prepares an athlete for his ECG.
