We need a country-sized automated external defibrillator (AED) right now. An AED is the only tool that can save someone in cardiac arrest. If needed, it delivers a lifesaving shock. If we hooked one up to this nation, the machine would run its diagnostics (like it always does) and probably...
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A Simon’s Heart Primer
Thank you for wanting to learn more about Simon’s Heart. Our organization is approaching its second decade, so there’s a lot to share. Curious about our impact? We hope that the narrative below provides insight into who we are, why we got started, and what we hope to accomplish. For...
AHA Report on ECG Screening Drops the Ball
Screen Across America is a consortium of organizations that provide youth heart screenings in the United States. The group includes integrated health care systems, hospitals, universities, private medical practices, businesses and foundations. Based on our experiences in screening hundreds of thousands of children, and changing thousands of lives, we believe...
Dead Man Floating
Last week, I flew from Philadelphia to Nashville to Raleigh to Tampa to Philadelphia. I met with lawmakers about the sudden cardiac arrest prevention act. We found lawmakers in Tennessee and North Carolina to sponsor the bill. We’re pretty excited. I heard airline attendants on four separate occasions tell us...
Student Drowns – Could Be Heart Related . . .
COLUMBUS, Ohio (CBS/WBNS) Rico Butler, a Hilliard Davidson High School student and star athlete, drowned Tuesday night while swimming in a Columbus, Ohio quarry. Police recovered the 17-year-old’s body from a quarry near Dublin and Trabue roads shortly before noon, according to CBS affiliate WBNS. Butler was swimming with several...
A New Beat in Heart Research
Sudden Cardiac Arrest syndrome (SCA) is poorly understood, but it’s a real danger for the otherwise young and healthy. For no apparent reason, the heart suddenly stops beating, and without treatment death may follow within minutes. It’s why some athletes drop dead on the track and why a young man,...
Big Talk
I’ve been to so many conferences. They ranged in content from bankruptcy law to social marketing to small businesses. At these conferences, I get the opportunity to meet lots of different people. Most of the discussion occurs around the breakfast or lunch table. Typically, they are strangers when we randomly sit down together, and...
Incredible Medical Research
When I was a little boy, I remember watching the show, That’s Incredible. It featured all kinds of unbelieveable or freakish things. I has very low expectations about the show’s credibility. I just wanted to be entertained. Today, I am attending the Parent Heart Watch conference. I sitting with about 30 other families that have...