Durango High School Future Health Professionals are trying to make sure the community is heart healthy.
Students planned to assist in administering electrocardiograms Friday and Saturday at the Impact Career Innovation Center located on DHS’ campus.
An EKG is a test that records the electrical activity of the heart, including the rate and rhythm. It is normally used to test if a patient has an irregular heartbeat.
According to data from students, one in 300 youths has an undetected heart condition. Also, the standard school physical detects only about 4% of underlying heart conditions. The addition of EKG increases detection to over 95%.
The Impact Career Innovation Center was set up to serve hundreds of people for the event. But just as important, the event will serve as a hands-on learning experience for DHS students who intended to enter the medical field.
“This is a part of our pathway for the CCNA certification, which is a medical assistant,” said medical career pathway teacher Kyle Montgomery. “And medical assistants need to be able to perform an EKG.”
Heart health is always important, he said. But recently, it’s gained more attention because of younger athletes having heart problems when they wouldn’t be expected to. Notably, Bronny James, son of NBA star LeBron James, collapsed in 2023 during basketball practice because of a heart defect.
Students will be taking the data from the EKG and submitting it to a cardiologist with Who We Play For, a nonprofit organization based in Florida dedicated to bettering heart health.
It will cost $25 for students and $40 for adults, which will pay for the cardiologist readings.
“It's like a good partnership of providing something to the community that the community needs – but they might not know it – and hopefully prevent that tragic death in our community and then also provide our students an opportunity to put their skills into action,” Montgomery said.
The EKG takes only about five minutes and students will be using the medical-grade equipment from the Impact Center. Students have been trained throughout the year to use the equipment and how to interact with patients while administering the test.
Patients will have their results emailed to them from the cardiologist and if there’s a heart concern that needs to be addressed, a team member of Who We Play For will offer consultation.
Testing will be offered from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
