Waldwick – The second round of cardiac screenings for high school freshmen again proved to be lifesaving.
Ing Group Inc., the marketing company for the Gregory M. Hirsch Memorial Foundation, announced last week that out of the 94 freshman screened at the high school in March, two students are now under the care of physicians as a result of the tests.
Freshmen in Waldwick were the first in the state last year to receive the free testing through the high school. Out of the 64 who participated in 2010, one student required major follow-up, officials reported.
The testing was inspired by the tragic passing of Sean Fisher, a 13-year-old Waldwick boy who died from an undetected heart condition during football practice in 2008.
Sheila Fisher, Sean’s mother, said in an interview Thursday, June 9, that it was "phenomenal" to hear that students have been helped.
The screenings are sponsored by the Gregory M. Hirsch Memorial Foundation, The Sean Fisher Memorial Foundation, Gift of Life American and CardiacScan Imaging Services.
According to a release, the screening program was developed by Dr. Robert J. Tozzi, the director of the Gregory M. Hirsch Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center at Hackensack University Medical Center and Kerri Winans Kaley, founder of CardiacScan Imaging Services.
The release said that one of the most common cases of cardiac death is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic disease in which the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick, making it harder to pump blood throughout the body. Most people have few, if any, symptoms of this disease, it said. Some people experience shortness of breath when exercising, chest pain, fainting, dizziness, fatigue, or abnormal heart rhythms.
