Solon schools to offer low-cost cardiac screenings for student athletes Oct. 20

The Solon City School District and the MCOR Foundation will offer low-cost cardiac screenings for student athletes on Oct. 20 at Solon High School, district officials told the Board of Education on Aug. 4. The screening day, scheduled for a student day off, will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and include an electrocardiogram and an echocardiogram performed by registered cardiac sonographers; pediatric cardiologists will review the results. District staff said the tests typically cost about $2,500 in a hospital setting, but they will be available for a $79 donation through the screening program. Each screening is expected to take about 10–12 minutes, and images will be stored electronically for family access. Officials urged participation by student-athletes because rare but serious cardiac events can occur in young people and said the screenings are designed to detect issues that might otherwise go unnoticed. The district has run the screening program in prior years and described it as a preventive measure to reduce the risk of sudden cardiac incidents. Families seeking the screening will have registration details posted by the district; the board received the item as an information item and took no formal action.