For example, this dispensary in Basalt, Colorado (outside of Aspen) announced it will be offering “… chiropractic care, physical therapy, acupuncture, Digital X-Ray and MRI diagnostics, heart screening, holistic dentistry, a spa, …

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Setback for CO Medical Marijuana Caregivers? – TalkLeft: The …

By MARGIE TRAX PAGE – Staff Writer – mtrax@starbeacon.com 
Star Beacon 

GENEVA — Two young children, more like brother and sister than cousins, shared a nap on Easter years ago, worn out from candy and friendly rabbits with eggs.

Sandy Rumer’s heart melted like a chocolate bunny on a windowsill as she watched her daughter snuggle with her beloved nephew Kenneth Derminer. She took a mental snapshot of the two and moved on to cleaning dishes and other post-Easter dinner chores, not fully understanding how precious that memory would become.

Rumer’s life changed in 2001, when Ken Derminer died of sudden cardiac arrest during a football clinic. Rumer’s last holiday memory of Ken would be that Easter moment.

Now a board member with the Kids Endangered Now (KEN) Heart Foundation, Rumer and sister Linette Derminer are working to raise awareness and prevent sudden cardiac arrest from occurring in youth and athletes by providing Automatic External Defibrillators (portable electric shock devices that restore a proper heart rhythm) to local organizations and locations.

Now Rumer is taking her goal to the next level by running in the 26-mile U.S. Marine Corps Marathon in Washington on Sunday to benefit the KEN Heart Foundation.

“The problem is that we don’t have enough donations,” Rumer said. “We are a long, long way away from our $2,500 goal.”

To donate to the KEN Heart Foundation through Rumer’s run, go to www.giveforward.org/marathonsandy. Donations can be made up to a week after the marathon, Rumer said.

The 39-year-old mom said her family is very close and Ken’s death was devastating to everyone who knew him.

“I used to babysit Kenneth and his sisters when they were younger and took my daughter Amanda with me. Amanda felt as if Kenneth was her older brother,” she said.

Rumer said her memories of her nephew are infused with the natural joy he brought to every occasion, from “hamming it up” for the video camera, telling jokes, or watching him open his guitar on his last Christmas morning.

“How do you come up with a favorite memory?” she said. “(Kenneth) was special, funny and caring. His family and friends loved him. When he died, it was such a tragic moment in our family. You just don’t expect to be going about your daily routine and receive the news that your nephew died — that he dropped to the ground while doing some jumping jacks at a football mini camp.”

Rumer said while her family will never be the same after the tragedy, she is proud of her sister Linette Derminer and her family for pulling together to provide life-saving AED’s to help other “hearts in trouble.”

“My sister and brother-in-law didn’t mess around. They started this organization very quickly after Kenneth died,” Rumer said. “We struggled to make sense of his death and we never could, but knowing that we are being proactive and hopefully raising awareness of sudden cardiac arrest and placing AED machines in facilities where children and athletes are at risk at least gives us some satisfaction that he did not die in vain,” she said.

Saturday will be Rumer’s second run in the Marine Corps Marathon.

“I always had it in the back of my mind that I would run it again one day and it would be for Kenneth, and my sister and for every person out there who has lost someone from an sudden cardiac arrest,” she said.

CHICAGO — A sperm donor passed on a potentially deadly genetic heart condition to nine of his 24 children, including one who died at age 2 from heart failure, according to a medical journal report.

It’s the second documented case of a genetic condition being inherited through sperm donation.

The latest case highlights screening sperm donors, according to the report and an editorial accompanying the doctors’report in last week’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

The San Francisco sperm bank involved now gives all donors electrocardiogram tests to weed out men with genetic heart problems; the study authors recommend other sperm banks do so as well.

Voluntary sperm bank guidelines say donors should provide a complete medical history to rule out those with infectious diseases or a family history of inherited diseases.

Many also do testing but for genetic diseases that are less common than the heart problem called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, according to co-author Dr. Barry Maron of the Minneapolis Heart Institute, a leading authority on the condition.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy thickens the heart and makes it harder to pump blood. It affects about one in 500 people; many more likely have the genetic defect without symptoms, said study co-author Heidi Rehm of Harvard Medical School.

Symptoms can include an irregular heartbeat and shortness of breath. The condition is often the culprit when young athletes collapse and die suddenly. The donor, now 42, had no symptoms of genetic heart disease when he donated sperm in the early 1990s. His own condition wasn’t diagnosed until after a child born through sperm donation was diagnosed.

The children are now ages 7 to 16.

The only other documented case of a disease inherited through sperm donation involved a rare blood disease.

All you have to do is watch this “ONE” story to have “ONE” good reason to support preventive heart screening, including an electrocardiogram (EKG/ ECG). As you will hear this doctor say, it is an amazing test that is simple and painless …

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Why Preventive Heart Screening? Here's Why!

A health charity is offering all 14-year-olds in London and the South East free heart screening in a bid to reduce sudden deaths from undetected cardiac problems.

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Charity heart screening for teens

The reasons are many and the rewards are priceless as to why preventive heart screening is so important. The many reasons are our children, the future of this country. Young people are being taken in the prime of their life from a …

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SafeBeat » Blog Archive » LOGIC – Is It Lost When It Comes To Our …

Tennessee basketball player Emmanuel Negedu will miss this season after having a sub-pectoral cardiac defibrillator implanted in his chest last week. He suffered sudden cardiac arrest after racing a teammate on the indoor football practice field. The basketball team had just finished a weightlifting session.

Negedu’s experience was eerily similar to former Vanderbilt basketball player Davis Nwankwo, who also had to be revived after suffering cardiac arrest and had no pulse until Vandy trainer Mike Myer got a portable defibrillator and revived Nwankwo in 2006.

David Sumner of Simi Valley was remembered as a bright, polite boy who may not have been the biggest player on the field but was always among the first to arrive to practice and truly loved the game. David collapsed Thursday and died Friday. The cause of death was unclear Saturday.

“I used to call him Lion Heart,” said Matt Rezinas, a former coach. “At first, he wasn’t the most coordinated player, but he had a heart of gold and determination.”

Saturday night’s vigil drew a crowd that nearly covered Apollo Field in Simi. The crowd included David’s parents, Bart and Leslie Sumner, his younger sister and scores of youth players and cheerleaders wearing their jerseys. Flowers were laid at the goal posts, and David’s uniform, No. 18, lit up the scoreboard.

It was the same field where David, an offensive and defensive tackle, collapsed Thursday evening in what coaches told the crowd was a “freak and rare accident.”

Assistant Coach Ed Inglehart said David collapsed while running during a kickoff drill. There was no contact at the time, although he was involved in normal contact earlier in the practice on a cool evening. Bart Sumner is a team manager and was at his son’s side immediately, Inglehart said.

David was rushed by ambulance to Simi Valley Hospital and had emergency surgery to relieve pressure on his brain, Inglehart said. He was transferred to Childrens Hospital, where he died Friday evening.

An autopsy had not yet been conducted. The body will be examined in the coming days by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office, said Brian Elias, a lieutenant in the office.

All Saturday games in the Gold Coast Youth Football League, of which the Simi Valley Vikings are members, were canceled, officials said. The games will be rescheduled.

David played in the J1 division on the Whites team.

“He was such an intelligent kid and polite young man. He had a passion for the game,” said his head coach, Mark Betancourt.

Family members could not be reached for comment Saturday. But Oliver Ramsey, 9, one of David’s best friends and a teammate, said he loved math and sports and was a nearly straight-A student. He also recently started playing the piano. “He always tried his best,” Oliver said.

After a ceremony Saturday near the grandstands, his 20 teammates did a lap around the field in his honor, while the crowd, holding lighted candles, outlined the playing field. Families hugged and cried.

“David’s family loved him so much. He was a precious little boy,” said Bill Dobbs, president of the Simi Valley Vikings board of directors.

Bart Sumner is a local screenwriter and actor. He played Max Bialystock in “The Producers” this spring at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center.

“This is a heartbreaking loss,” said Richard Dunbar of Simi Valley, who coaches a team and has a son in the Vikings organization.

No one could recall another death in league history. More than 500 children, ages 6 to 14, participate in the organization, which celebrated its 46th year in 2008, Dobbs said.

“It’s a close-knit football community,” Dunbar agreed.

The league has set up an account to accept donations for the Sumner family. Donations should be made out to the Memorial Fund for David Sumner and sent to Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, Account No. 0102770088, P.O. Box 1493, Simi Valley, CA 93062.

According to research from the Heart Rhythm Society, more than 70 percent of Americans believe sudden cardiac arrest, SCA, is a type of heart attack. It’s like comparing apples and oranges. The common misunderstanding between SCA and a heart attack can lead people to overlook important risk factors that contribute to SCA.

So what is the difference? In basic terms, SCA is an electrical malfunction of the heart, while a heart attack is a blockage in the blood vessels interrupting the flow of blood to the heart – essentially an “electrical vs. plumbing” problem. Knowing the difference could help save thousands of lives each year.

Unfortunately, not only is SCA misunderstood, it’s severely underestimated. SCA is a leading cause of death in the United States, taking more than 250,000 lives each year. Unknown by many, SCA claims more lives annually than breast cancer, lung cancer or AIDS.

In an effort to raise awareness about SCA and promote better heart health, the Heart Rhythm Society, an organization representing specialized clinicians trained to treat heart rhythm disorders, has launched a multi-year campaign aimed at helping individuals identify risk factors, understand how to properly respond and how to effectively prevent and treat SCA. Chief among its priorities, the Heart Rhythm Society hopes to help people better understand SCA, and is working to eliminate the confusion between SCA and a heart attack.

“Sudden cardiac arrest is a serious health issue. Unfortunately, the public knows little about SCA, such as whom it affects and what can be done to prevent it,” says Richard L. Page, MD, FHRS, president of the Heart Rhythm Society. “The Heart Rhythm Society would like to encourage all Americans to learn more about SCA by becoming aware of preventative and responsive techniques that will ultimately save lives.”

The Heart Rhythm Society offers the following tips and advice.

Who is at risk of SCA?
The following risk factors may indicate an increased risk of SCA:
* Previous heart attack
* Family history of sudden death, heart failure or heart attack
* Abnormal heart rate or rhythm
* Unusually rapid heart rate that comes and goes
* Episodes of fainting
* Low Ejection Fraction (less than 35 percent) – a measurement of how much blood is pumped by the ventricles with each heart beat

How to respond to SCA.

Time is critical.  The Heart Rhythm Society advises the following swift actions in response to SCA:

* Know the signs of SCA – victims will fall to the ground, become unresponsive and will not breathe normally, if at all
* Call 911
* Administer CPR – hands-only CPR is proven to be just as effective
* Use an automated external defibrillator (AED) if one is available

How to prevent SCA.

The Heart Rhythm Society offers the following advice to decrease the likelihood of SCA:
* Live a healthy lifestyle
* Know your family history
* Know your risk of heart failure
* Treat and monitor health conditions that can contribute to heart problems, including high blood pressure, cholesterol, and smoking
* Seek professional guidance to control or stop an abnormal heart rhythm

For more information please visit www.HRSonline.org.

Photo Courtesy of Fotolia
Source: The Heart Rhythm Society