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Schools

CLC Students Take Heart Health Into Their Own Hands

Screens for Teens visits its first college campus to test students for undiagnosed cardiac conditions - Part One.

Five hundred students from the walked away from campus with more knowledge about their own heart health.

The students recently received free electrocardiogram and echocardiogram tests as part of Screens for Teens, a program used to help identify young adults who are at risk of sudden cardiac death before it is too late.

“These young adults are at a stage when they are taking responsibility for their own actions,” said Mary Beth Schewitz of Lake Bluff. “It is nice to see them taking action.”

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In 2005, Schewitz’s son Max died suddenly at the age of 20 from an undiagnosed cardiac arrhythmia. Max had no previous medical conditions or warning signs.

Schewitz and her husband began the Max Schewitz Foundation to help prevent sudden cardiac death in young people.

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To date, more than 19,000 high school and college students have received the free EKG testing through the foundation.

“We’ve saved lives at every single school,” Schewitz said. “We find kids who have a potentially life-threatening disease and we make them aware of it.”

Marissa Williams, 21, of Gurnee, was one of the 500 students tested at . Williams, who was born with an irregular heartbeat, said she heard about Max’s story and wanted to get checked.

“I don’t get an EKG when I go for a regular physical. If they didn’t offer it here, I probably wouldn’t know if everything was OK or not,” she said.

When he read Williams’ test results, Dr. Eli Lavie saw something he wanted to investigate further and ordered her an on-site echocardiogram. He is the foundation’s medical director and cardiologist at Northshore University Healthcare Systems.

“The EKG is a very sensitive screening tool so it can develop a false positive,” Lavie said of some students needing the additional test. This was the first event Screens for Teens offered the echocardiograms as a follow-up to the EKG.

“The echocardiogram is cutting down on those false positives and really rules out the major problems,” Dr. Lavie said.

Williams’ echocardiogram came back clear and gave her some peace of mind. “You just never know what will happen unless you get tested. I am relieved.”

Kristyne Karoschel, 18, of Gurnee, said she wanted to get tested simply because her family history is unclear. “My mom was adopted, so I’m not sure what runs in our family,” Karoschel said. “I am young and not sure if I am at risk, so I figured I should take advantage of it.”

Vince Massey, 26, of Buffalo Grove is an avid cyclist and runner. He said his grandparents experienced heart-health issues and he wanted to be sure he was in the clear.

It’s similar to why Nick Dubach of Gurnee signed up. The 18-year-old mechanical engineering student has plans to run in a 5K race next month. While he said there is no family history of heart problems, he couldn’t pass the opportunity to verify he was healthy.

“I wouldn’t know about this without CLC," Dubach said. "Do I have a heart issue? I wouldn’t know if I wasn’t here."

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