Oaks Christian School Partners with UCLA Health with Cardiac Screenings for Student Athletes

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. - Sept. 27, 2013 - PRLog -- Westlake Village, California—Oaks Christian School has partnered with UCLA Health in Thousand Oaks to save lives and offer preventive resources for cardiac health.  Today’s concerns about cardiac health for high school students inspired Oaks Christian High School Nurse Linda Latham to take action.  “Hearing about the tragic death of 16-year old swimmer Justin Carr at Harvard-Westlake was a call to action for our middle school nurse, Leslie Heimbuch, and me,” said Linda Latham.  “We saw this as a way to honor the Carr family and be sure that this does not happen to more student athletes by expanding our regular sports physicals to add cardiac screenings.”   UCLA Health is new to the Thousand Oaks community and welcomed the opportunity to serve OCS students, starting with a May 2013 Sports Physical and Cardiac Screening Day and another event in August 2013.

UCLA Health Cardiologist Dr. Ravi Dave and his team at UCLA Health in Thousand Oaks closed their offices to serve the more than 200 students with these low-cost physical and cardiac screening days.  The team of UCLA Health professionals conducted sports physicals (required for participation in high school sports) with UCLA family medicine/medical pediatrics physicians, while Cardiologist Dr. Ravi Dave and team provided cardiac screenings.  If a cardiac screening indicated further testing, an on-the-spot electrocardiogram (EKG) test was performed as part of this comprehensive physical at the state-of-the-art UCLA Health facility at 100 Moody Court in Thousand Oaks.  Those students whose EKGs revealed irregularities were referred for echocardiograms, which were performed that day for an additional discounted cost.  “The importance of this partnership cannot be measured in dollars, but the fact that UCLA Health professionals are offering this to students at such a low cost really demonstrates their concern for student athletes and cardiac health,” said OCS Athletic Director Jan Hethcock who himself lost a 16-year-old relative to cardiac arrest while playing high school sports.

CBS2 Reporter Ray Bell visited Oaks Christian School and UCLA Health to cover this important story in hopes of encouraging other schools to partner with medical organizations to ensure cardiac health for students now and in the future.  View the September 2013 CBS2 report at: http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/09/17/oaks-christian-school-offers-heart-screenings-for-athletes-after-swimmers-death/.  Oaks Christian School will again partner with UCLA Health for another Sports Physical and Cardiac Screening Day in May 2014.  For more information, contact OC nurses Linda Latham at 818.575.9231 and Leslie Heimbuch at 818.824.9431.