Heart screening a part of life in D204

Two years ago, a grateful parent of a Neuqua Valley High School student sent a letter thanking the school for saving her son's life.

He was one of more than 5,700 Indian Prairie Unit District 204 students to undergo screening by an electrocardiogram to detect potentially life-threatening heart conditions. The boy's results — like those of 113 other students — recommended further evaluation.

This year, the district hopes to top the number of tests by screening at least 6,350 high school students as part of an ongoing effort planned for every other year.

The success story of the Neuqua Valley boy was shared at this week's Indian Prairie Unit District 204 board meeting. Such a story, “makes it all real,” board President Curt Bradshaw said. “Even if all of this was for that one student, it was worth the effort. The fact that you are identifying potentially 113 students this last time that needed further evaluation that may have had issues they didn't know they had. This is just one of the neatest things we've done so far.”

District 204 has lost three students to sudden cardiac death – Waubonsie Valley students Signe Jenkins in 1984 and Roosevelt Jones III in 2004 and Neuqua Valley student Zamarri Doby in 2008.

Doby, a popular basketball player, collapsed during a game. His death prompted Jason Altenbern, District 204 community relations coordinator, to check into a screening program piloted in Naperville Unit District 203. That program, Young Hearts 4 Life created by the Midwest Heart Foundation, is now used by District 204.

“Simply put, we saw the need and acted on it,” Altenbern said. The foundation estimates 30 young adults die in this country every week from Sudden Cardiac Death.

Volunteer cardiologists from Midwest Heart Specialists interpret each electrocardiogram, a noninvasive test that takes about three minutes. Results are then mailed to parents about three weeks later.

In District 204, the program requires 600 community volunteers who are trained the night before screenings to run equipment and to round up students. Screenings happen during gym classes. The roughly $55,000 cost of the program is paid for through a $25,000 grant from Edward Hospital and $30,000 from the Indian Prairie Educational Foundation. The district's food provider, Chartwells School Dining Services, donates food for volunteers.

Testing is finished at Metea Valley High School; it will be done at Waubonsie Valley this month and at Neuqua Valley in April.