new Florida law<\/a> aimed at preventing sudden cardiac arrest in student athletes.<\/p>\nBeginning July 1, Florida\u2019s Second Chance Act will require students in grades 9 through 12 to get an electrocardiogram, or EKG, before participating in interscholastic sports for the first time.<\/p>\n
The law is named after Chance Gainer, a Florida high school football player who died after collapsing during a game because of an undiagnosed heart condition.<\/p>\n
Doctors say the screenings can help detect hidden cardiac issues that may not appear during a routine sports physical.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou ask all the questions, the history, the physical, you listen to their heart, everything is normal, and then you do this EKG and bam, something\u2019s abnormal,\u201d said Dr. Anjlee Patel, a pediatric cardiologist with AdventHealth.<\/p>\n
More than 700 student athletes signed up for Sunday\u2019s free clinic, where students could receive sports physicals, EKG screenings or both. Walk-ins were also accepted.<\/p>\n
Patel said the additional testing can identify conditions that otherwise may go unnoticed.<\/p>\n
\u201cElectrical disturbances, thickening of the heart muscle, that you wouldn\u2019t know just by listening to them, so this added layer is another level of protection for them,\u201d Patel said.<\/p>\n
For many families, the free clinic also helped ease concerns about cost and insurance coverage as the new requirement approaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need it for the next year but our insurance companies haven\u2019t caught up yet,\u201d said parent Taleshia Duebbers.<\/p>\n
Other parents said they appreciated the opportunity to get the screenings done quickly and at no cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust with so many athletes that didn\u2019t know they had a heart condition, I think it\u2019s great they\u2019re offering it, it\u2019s free, it\u2019s easy,\u201d said Stacy Kriley, whose children participate in multiple sports and activities.<\/p>\n
Student athletes also said the screenings gave them peace of mind heading into the next sports season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s cool they\u2019re making us get it done though because it is important to know that your heart is ok to play a sport,\u201d said cheerleader Alexis Kriley.<\/p>\n
Doctors say many of the conditions detected through EKG screenings can be treated early, allowing students to continue competing safely.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can intervene, put them on medication, have a minor procedure and they\u2019re cleared to return to sports so all in all I feel like it\u2019s such a win and to keep them safe,\u201d Patel said.<\/p>\n
Families who missed Sunday\u2019s event can find information about additional free screening opportunities on AdventHealth\u2019s website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 700 student athletes attended a free AdventHealth screening event Sunday as Florida prepares to require EKGs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-274550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}