Dedham High Supports 'Healthy Hearts For Valentines Day'

DEDHAM, MA — Students at Dedham High School will be able to celebrate this coming Valentine’s Day with new insights into their own hearts. Working in partnership with local organizations, students can register to undergo a quick five minute ECG screening during the school day on Feb. 13. The program hopes to identify those students who may have a serious heart condition which can often go undetected during annual physicals.

“Very few students or parents ever know about underlying heart issues, so the opportunity to do something proactive and preventative, something that may save one of our students someday, is invaluable,” said Dedham Superintendent Michael Welch. “Our school community is fortunate to have an athletic trainer and health services staff who passionately pursue opportunities like this on behalf of the students.”

The first 250 screenings are being offered free-of-charge thanks to funding provided by the 21 Fund. The 21 Fund was founded to honor the memory of Joseph “Joey” Glynn, a star basketball player at Cardinal Spellman High School, whose life was cut short by an undetected heart condition while playing summer league basketball in 2013.

“The 21 Fund is an organization near and dear to my heart,” noted Dedham High School Athletic Trainer Meghan McColgan. “Having a personal connection to the tragic consequences of an undetected heart condition, I’ve wanted to offer student cardiac screenings for many years. We are so thankful to the 21 Fund for helping us with the funding to provide them free to our students.”

Mass Heartbeat, a local organization that specializes in ECG heart screening will bring their state-of-the-art ECG technology directly to Dedham High School to provide a non-invasive ECG screening that can help detect underlying issues in the heart.

The ECG tracings are interpreted by an experienced cardiologist and the results will be confidentially returned to each participant within 5 business days.

The program will take place during the school day and is encouraged for all students, not just student-athletes. Participation is by parent-registration only. Parents interested in registering their student for the 5-minute screening on Thursday, February 13, 2020 can do so online.