Youth Heart Screening Upcoming In Highland February 15
The Greg Holthaus Memorial Fund is holding their annual Heart Screening on Monday, February 15, 2021, President’s Day, from 8am-4pm. The screenings will be held at St. Paul Parish Center Cafeteria in Highland. The cost is $34 per person, pre-registration is required.
If this screening is cost prohibitive, contact Gail at gholthaus34@yahoo.com. This screening is for ANYONE between the ages of 12-22 years old.
Gwen Buesching, a Troy resident, mom of a Triple AAA 14U Lady Blues, who is involved with both organizations said “I want to bring youth cardiac awareness to the St.Louis area, because no one should ever endure losing a loved one to sudden cardiac arrest if it could be preventable.”
One in every 300 youths have an undetected heart abnormality, and Greg Holthaus was among that one in 300. Holthaus, the funds namesake, passed away at the age of 18 due to a cardiac arrest caused by an enlarged heart. He was a Highland High School graduate and was attending the University of Missouri. A heart screening such as this one would have picked up his undiagnosed heart condition (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, HCM)
The Greg Holthaus Memorial Fund is also hosting a Hunt for Heart Savers(AEDs) in partnership with the Korte Rec Center during February, which is American Heart Month. The event will held on February 14 and participants are to take pictures with Highland Area AEDs and post them to social media with the hashtag #highlandheartsavers to be entered into a drawing. Winners will be announced on February 16.
AEDs are Automatic Heart Defibrillators, which are used to send shocks to the heart to resume normal function. They are designed to only give a shock if no heart rhythm is detected, so it will not give a shock to someone who does not need it. They are located at several parks, businesses, churches, schools and more in the Highland area.
The Greg Holthaus Memorial FaceBook Page is available at https://www.facebook.com/gregholthausmemorialfund/. A direct link to sign up for the heart screenings is https://mcoreathletes.com/scheduler_schedule/?school=312.
