Our Mission: Saving Lives Everyday

My heart breaks every time I see a news story about a young person who dies suddenly from a heart condition. Usually, the young person experienced no symptoms and his or her heart ailment was a complete surprise.

I kept asking myself, why did it go undetected? After all, every child who participates in a school sports program has had a physical exam. Unfortunately, our physicals are not designed to detect the leading causes of sudden cardiac death (SCD). For example, Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in people less than 24 years of age, yet a standard physical almost never detects this condition.

The medical community has been searching for an accurate - yet affordable - way to save young lives that might be cut short due to SCD. One option, adopted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is to use an electrocardiogram (EKG) to screen all athletes. Physicians in Italy claim a 90% reduction in sudden cardiac death in athletes during competition. Although the American Heart Association agrees with the need for more rigorous screening, they are concerned about the cost of EKGs and follow-up echocardiograms, and therefore recommend a set of questions to help uncover a family history of heart problems.

Now, our Heart Safe Scan™ physical exam has solved the cost problem of detecting HCM during physicals. The Heart Safe™ exam follows the AHA guidelines AND, in accordance with IOC standards, includes an EKG and an echocardiogram, both interpreted by a board certified pediatric cardiologist.

I believe Heart Care Monitoring is revolutionizing the way we conduct student physicals. We actually want to take this a step further and measure all people between 12-24 years of age, since causes of SCD can affect more than just athletes.

Our company motto is ‘Saving Lives Everyday.’ We look forward to working with area schools and parents in protecting our young people.

Tom Ahrens, RN, PhD, FAAN
Founder
Heart Care Measurement