JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — *The above video is from a Jan. 12 First Coast News Special Report
Logan Johannesen's mother got a call she wasn't expecting a week after her 14-year-old son had a free heart screening at the Who We Play For event in Jacksonville in January that First Coast News helped organize.
“I started crying,” Kristy Johannesen said. “He said it's Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome. Make sure he plays no sports does no practices. So, it was just very alarming that it seemed very serious.”
The electrocardiogram, also known as an ECG or EKG, revealed the Sandalwood High student had a potentially life-threatening electrical problem with his heart. He was one of two teens screened at the January event who had to have an ablation this month.
Of the roughly 330 students screened at the event, three learned they were at high risk for sudden death. Another five were flagged and are undergoing more testing to see if they need to take further action according to Who We Play For.
“I’m very grateful that they figured it out for anything bad happened,” Logan Johannesen said.
Nine out of ten people who have sudden cardiac arrest outside of a hospital setting don't survive. Shawn Sima's daughter is in the 10% of people who do. She collapsed on a treadmill when she was 16. Unlike heart attacks, with cardiac arrest, most kids never have any warning signs or symptoms.
“One in 300 Kids has a heart problem that they don't know about. As you know, I'm a physician’s assistant. Until my own daughter collapsed, I had never looked behind the curtain. I didn't know that my stethoscope exam misses most things that are going to kill our children and that adding a basic ECG when it's read the right way, can save a whole lot of lives.”
Right now, in Florida heart screenings are required to be offered for about 30 percent of students according to Who We Play For. First Coast News On Your Side reached out to all of our local school districts on the First Coast. Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Nassau, and Baker County have offered EKGs, but none require them. Parents like Charlene Gore whose son collapsed during basketball practice at Sandalwood High on the day of our heart screening event thinks they need to be required.
“I definitely feel like it should be mandated,” Gore said. “He's been playing basketball since he was like about five years old. And he's always been cleared. And I just feel like had he gotten an EKG, we would have known this before. But now we know what is going on with his heart. He is wearing a heart monitor for like 30 days now. And we have some answers, but it definitely should be mandatory.”
“Everybody's always worried about false positives, which means that you do a test, and it doesn't look right, and all of a sudden, the kid has to miss football or sports. And then there's a workup that happens with that. With the special training on what we call the international criteria of ECG reading, the false positive rate is less than 2%,” Sima said.
Pam Gould, an Orange County School Board Member, says her district in Orlando has required EKGS since 2021.It’s the third largest school district in Florida.
“The biggest thing is peace of mind. We were seeing sudden cardiac arrests on the fields periodically and also with band, ROTC, and with our athletes, and now we have a screening tool that can take care of that right during that sports physical,” Gould said.
Sima points out there is no data bank to track sudden cardiac arrest in children.
“A lot of them die,” Sima said. “And because of an electrical problem, the autopsy is negative. They are lost to statistics. And that's why these heart screenings are so important. We are picking up these problems before they cause a tragic event.”
Who We Play For offers low-cost heart screenings to any school district that is interested.
“They don't really know how easy this solution can be. So, for those districts, we say, for the love of God, please reach out to us. There's nothing we want more than to work with all 67 districts in the state of Florida, to phase this in as a standard of care for their kids,” Ernst said.
For Logan and his family, they're just thankful he was screened before it was too late.
“Very grateful. Had they not found it, it's like, you don't know what could have happened,” Kristy Johannesen said.
We reached out to school districts across the First Coast to ask if they’re considering requiring electrocardiograms for student athletes, band members and the ROTC. None currently require them. These are the responses we received.
Clay County School District
CCDS does not currently require this screening for our student-athletes. However, all students who participate in FHSAA sports have to complete a sudden cardiac course (through NFHS) and submit the certification. Our Coordinator of Athletics is in discussion with some outside organizations on possibly attending our free physical event that we host and offering this screening for those parents who would like that for their child, but nothing has been finalized beyond the discussion point as of right now for CCDS.
St. Johns County School District
We do recognize the importance of these screens and have school sites that have hosted these screenings. Most recently we had 115 students screened at Beachside High School. It is voluntary participation, and we request a $20 donation for the screening, though if someone does not or can't make the donation then he/she is screened for free.
We have another event coming up April 13 at Tocoi Creek High School. These screenings are open to all student athletes, no matter the school.
Duval County School District
We just recently (January 8th) hosted a heart screening event where we screened over 300 students. We are working with our partners on how we can grow this event in the future to accommodate more students. We are working closely with our partners and athletic trainers to determine our next steps.
Nassau County School District
We are not considering requiring them at this time. Though, in the recent past we have provided, through local providers, the opportunity for students to get them for free on a voluntary basis.
Camden County School District
We do not require them at this time. Athletes have to have a sports physical to participate in sports. We do have AEDS in all of our schools and all of trainers have AEDS that go to practice fields as well.
Glynn County School District
The Glynn County School System does not require electrocardiogram screenings, however, in accordance with Georgia Law SB 60, Jeremy Nelson and Nick Blakely Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act, we do the following:
Each school must distribute to every athlete and his/her parent/guardian an information sheet that includes: the Early Warning Signs, How to Recognize Sudden Cardiac Arrest and Learn Hands-Only CPR outlined in this by-law. This sheet must be signed by the parent/guardian of each athlete, each athlete and a copy kept on file at the school.
Hold an informational meeting twice per year regarding the symptoms and warning signs of sudden cardiac arrest. At such informational meetings, an information sheet on sudden cardiac arrest symptoms and warning signs shall be provided to each student's parent or guardian. In addition to students, parents or guardians, coaches, and other school officials, such informational meetings may include physicians, pediatric cardiologists, and athletic trainers.