Eleven year old Bailey of Flushing was among 387 students that participated in the Hurley Teen Health Check (Doug Pike, Hurley Medical Center)

FLUSHING, MICHIGAN—Nearly 400 students participated in Hurley Medical Center’s Teen Health Check on Saturday, November 17 at Flushing Middle School, and the event had potential life-saving results.

Three students were identified as having potential concerns that warrant them to stop playing sports until they meet with their pediatrician and/or pediatric cardiologist. The Hurley Medical Center team was comprised of physicians, PAs, nursing staff and a host of volunteers. Many other students were directed to follow-up with their family physician.

The community event, part of Hurley’s Health Check was administered by Hurley Children’s Hospital and the Thomas Smith Memorial Foundation, helping to provide a cost-free medical examination that typically isn’t covered by most insurances.

The Thomas Smith Memorial Foundation was developed in honor of Thomas Noah Smith, a Flushing student who died at the of age 17 due to an undiagnosed heart condition.

"It's a great privilege to provide a service not routinely conducted and one we believe can identify and prevent a silent killer of children,” said Dr. Jim Weber, Hurley Medical Center ER Physician. “This is consistent with our mission at Hurley, which is to provide clinical excellence and service to the people of the community.”

The Hurley Teen Health Check combines a simple health history and noninvasive screening to look for signs of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). HCM is a serious heart condition that is the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young athletes, affecting approximately one in 500 people, and does not usually have any symptoms. The stress on the heart during strenuous activities puts our students at higher risk for sudden death.

The event marked Hurley’s third Teen Health Check, a program developed by Beaumont Hospital in Detroit. Hurley Children's Hospital, Thomas Smith Memorial Foundation, HealthPlus, and Stella & Frederick Loeb Charitable Trust sponsored the event.

For interviews, please call Ilene Cantor, Administrator, Marketing, Community and Public Relations at Hurley at 810-262-7164 or icantor1@hurleymc.com.

Hurley Children’s Hospital provides outstanding patient and family centered care for our region’s youngest patients, including Pediatric Intensive Care, Pediatric Oncology, a nationally recognized Asthma program, Genesee County’s highest level Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Level III); the region’s only Pediatric Level II Trauma Center (Genesee, Lapeer, Shiawassee Counties) and a separate dedicated Pediatric Emergency Department, along with a multitude of pediatric sub-specialties. Hurley Children’s Hospital maintains academic affiliations with Michigan State University, the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan-Flint, Mott Community College and Henry Ford Health System, and cares for more than 20,000 pediatric patients annually.