SHAPE America Podcast – Health Literacy Month/Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness

Sudden Cardiac Arrest is the leading cause of death in the U.S. But what most people don’t know is that it is also the #1 killer of student athletes and the leading cause of death on school campuses. Many people think there is nothing you can do to prevent Sudden Cardiac Arrest and Sudden Cardiac Death. The truth is—you can—you just have to be prepared. Join us as the SHAPE America podcast team invites the Executive Director and Board Members of Parent Heart Watch to discuss Sudden Cardiac Arrest in youth, appraise risk factors, access preventative health care, apply life-saving skills to prevent sudden death, and advocate for sudden cardiac arrest prevention practices wherever youth congregate.Panelists include; *Martha Lopez-Anderson (Executive Director, Parent Heart Watch) - After the sudden death of her seemingly healthy 10-year-old son in 2004 blindsided Martha, she immersed herself in education and training relating to the prevention and treatment of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in youth. For nearly a decade, Martha served as the Chair for the Board of Directors of Parent Heart Watch. Martha was part of a task force comprised of the American Heart Association and twelve other national health and safety organizations in developing a Cardiac Emergency Response Plan (CERP) for Schools and was part of the writing group that authored the CERP policy statement. She also serves on the Institute of Medicine’s Sudden Cardiac Arrest Collaborative; the Cardiac Safety Research Consortium; Youth Sports Safety Alliance; Citizen CPR Foundation’s Sudden Cardiac Arrest in Youth Task Force; the Orange County (Florida) EMS Advisory Council; the National Advisory Committee for the Sudden Death in Young Registry and the National Center for Fatality Review & Prevention.*Susan Canning (Parent Heart Watch Board Member/Founder of KEVS Foundation) - After the sudden loss of her 19-year-old son, Kevin, to Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, Susan founded KEVS Foundation in 2012 in his memory. KEVS Foundation’s mission is to raise awareness of Sudden Cardiac Arrest in youth, to donate AED units to youth organizations and schools, and to provide free heart screenings in the local youth community. Susan is an American Heart Association (AHA) CPR/AED instructor and has trained thousands of coaches and students, and is a representative on the Massachusetts AHA Advisory Board. Susan has been instrumental in the passage of two life-saving bills in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and currently has another piece of legislation pending in Boston.*Kimberly G. Harmon, M.D. (Section Head, Sports Medicine Section Professor, Departments of Family Medicine and Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Head Football Physician, University of Washington/Parent Heart Watch Medical Advisory Board) - Kim is a Professor in Family Medicine and Orthopedics and Sports Medicine at the University of Washington where she is the Section Head of the Sports Medicine Section. She is a past president of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (2009-2010) and currently serves on their foundation board. She is the head football physician at the University of Washington and is an associate editor for the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Her interest on sudden cardiac death in high school students and NCAA athletes has led to published research and presentations at national and international conferences. She lectures nationally and internationally on sudden cardiac death in athletes, has published extensively on the topic and her research has won numerous awards. She most recently co-authored the “International Criteria for ECG Interpretation in Athletes” as part of a world-wide consortium of medical professionals who sought to establish a new best practice in preventing sudden death in youth athletes.