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Student-led cardiac screening drive gains council support and donations
Summary
A Westwood/Township of Washington high school student described a planned cardiac-screening event at the high school, said community fundraising has covered much of the cost, and council members agreed to a $500 donation from a local wellness fund.
Jordan Schwartz, a sophomore at Western Regional High School, told the township council Monday he is organizing school-based cardiac screening after learning of sudden cardiac events in teenagers.
Schwartz said the initiative grew from a family case in which a healthy 16‑year‑old collapsed and later was found to have an underlying heart condition. He said his aunt helped arrange a screening for a relative that identified a condition and led to a life‑saving procedure.
Schwartz described plans to bring the MCOR Foundation’s screening to Westwood High School in June and to charge families $25 per child while MCOR’s per-child fee to organizers is $79. “A simple echo EKG test can save a life, and AEDs are simply just not enough,” Schwartz told the council.
He said MCOR screens roughly 5,000 children a year and reported a finding rate of about 5 percent in other communities. Schwartz said he has raised about $2,300 toward a $3,200 target to subsidize screenings; as of the council meeting there were about 62 available screening slots and 55 had been reserved.
Council members, Mayor Peter Calamari and public health representatives thanked Schwartz for the work and discussed ways the township could publicize the event. Bob Stickel of Lifesavers made an on‑the‑spot donation of $500, which Schwartz and council members acknowledged. Judy Beckmeier, director of the township Board of Health, said she would raise the issue with the board to explore a possible broader community program.
On the council dais, a member asked whether the council could make a donation from the township’s “Spring into Wellness” or 5K health-fair fund. A council speaker said, by consensus during the meeting, the council would provide $500 from that fund and another council member said he would seek matching funds from the baseball/softball board.
Schwartz said the plan is to start with juniors and seniors in the first year but then open the program to all grades; he told the council the recent increase in signups prompted that change. He said the group is meeting with hospital leaders and hopes to make the screening recurring when MCOR visits the area for other schools.
Ending: Council members and public-health officials agreed to promote the screening on township channels. The council’s pledged $500 donation was made by consensus during the meeting; the record shows no separate, later formal appropriation in the minutes of this session.
