In January 2011, Flushing High School senior Thomas Smith died while home from sudden cardiac arrest due to an enlarged heart. In his honor, his family started the Thomas Smith Memorial Foundation. The foundation is built upon three principles: to honor all youth who die from sudden cardiac arrest, provide free teen heart screenings to children age 13-19 and donate external defibrillators to child-centered organizations in Michigan. This year the Thomas Smith Memorial Foundation, in collaboration with Hurley Children’s Hospital and Hurley Trauma Care, will hold a free teen heart screening event from 9-2pm on Saturday, Oct. 19 at Flushing Middle School located at 8100 W. Carpenter Rd.
Students must be registered to participate. Please call 810.262.7123 to register.
The Hurley Teen Health Check Student Screening Program combines the student’s health history with noninvasive procedures to identify signs of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Students participating will have their blood pressure checked and an electrocardiogram (ECG) performed. A cardiologist will be on hand to evaluate each student. Students may have to also undergo an echocardiogram, if prescribed by the doctor.
The free screening is open to ANY teen within in age range of 13-19. The teen will be required to fill out a health history questionnaire and the teen and parent must sign. A consent form MUST be signed by the parent before screening will take place. Screenings will take approximately 30-90 minutes.
To register your teen for free heart screening, call 810.262.7123 before Saturday.
