Through the donation of a local family, 73 Bearcat student-athletes recently underwent an electrocardiogram screening in addition to a required annual physicals required for athletic participation.
Not only did Manfred and his wife Dana Phillips (who are pictured with Rachel Ewing, Jessica Walker, and superintendent Trent Goff) fund the screenings, Dana Phillips, who is a nurse, helped out with the EKG screening process.
The screenings were conducted through the Who We Play For organization at a cost of $1,555 and in an effort to identify athletes at risk for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).
The issue of a possible SCA is one which the Phillips know well.
“I think it was just a big deal to me because (their son) Austin had the heart issue. He had a test and we found it,” said Dana Phillips. “When he had his procedure – he had three – his cardiologist told us he would have been a sudden death on the floor.”
Austin Phillips played basketball and other sports at Magazine.
“They let me borrow the defibrillator to take home and we went through all that stuff for a couple of months before he had his procedure. It was scary,” said Phillips.
Consequently, Phillips said she would not want anyone to learn of a risk due to a life threatening incident.
“I was a first responder too so I had all my responder stuff so if anything happened to him I could help him, but it was scary,” Dana Phillips added.
As was the case with her son, the screening did identify one student with an abnormal reading. That student is following up with their primary caregiver, according to school nurse Walker, who organized the project.
“They were told they could continue to play sports. It wasn’t serious for like sudden cardiac arrest but it was abnormal,” said Walker.
The screenings took only about five minutes.
“It took longer to hook up the leads than to do the test. It was a 10 second tracing,” said Walker.
Ewing had the test conducted on her son.
“He was thrilled to get it done. You don’t even think about the kids thinking about it. But mine knows the family history and has asked ‘Should I get checked out?’ That was in an unrelated conversation,” said Ewing.
The program is hoped to be an annual one as recommendations are that athletes have a screening every year.
While in high school Austin Phillips had no issues after the risk was identified as a pre-teen and corrected, but it did return. He has had another procedure a few years ago, Dana Phillips said.