Heart Awareness

What is Sudden Cardiac Arrest?

Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is a life-threatening emergency that occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating. It strikes people of all ages who may seem to be healthy, even children and teens.

When SCA happens, the person collapses and doesn’t respond or breathe normally. They may gasp or shake as if having a seizure.

SCA leads to death in minutes if the person does not get help right away. Survival depends on people nearby calling 911, starting CPR¹, and using an AED² (if available) as soon as possible.

For more information, go to What is SCA

All Children Should Be Screened For Potential Heart-Related Issues

A 2021 update to the previous 2012 recommendations for combating Sudden Death in the Young offers new guidance to help primary care providers identify children at risk for heart-related problems that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest or death. The policy underscores all youth should be regularly screened for heart issues regardless of their level of physical activity or participation in sports programs.

For more information, go to Screening Policy

Make Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Part of Your Practice

Did you know that 1 in 300 youth has an undetected heart condition that puts them at risk for sudden cardiac arrest?¹ As primary care practitioners, you are on the front lines when it comes to protecting young hearts from sudden death. And yet, studies show that cardiac consideration is an often overlooked area of assessment, with practitioners and parents largely unfamiliar with warning signs and risk factors that require follow up. In fact, the standard approach to well-child checkups and PPEs can miss up to 90%² of heart abnormalities.
Consider the evidence.

For more information, go to Primary Care Providers

Cardiac Emergency Response Plan Quick-Start Guide

Don’t Just Check the Box

Sudden Cardiac Arrest often has no warning signs. But according to a study published by the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 72% of students who suffered from SCA were reported by their parents to have had at least one cardiovascular symptom before the event. They just didn’t recognize it as life threatening. Don’t just check the box on health history forms and sports clearance packets—check in with your youth, and with adults supervising them, to be sure you know what’s going on in their heart

For more information, go to Warning Signs & Risks

Don’t Skip Your Youth’s PPE

Youth Sports During COVID-19: Why Prevention Matters

While states grapple with return-to-school protocol, consideration has been given to the possibility of waiving pre-participation physical evaluations for returning student-athletes.

Should student-athletes return to play, either through their school or community sports program, Parent Heart Watch firmly recommends that parents ensure their student athletes get a current physical that includes a comprehensive cardiac risk assessment to make sure, in addition to other health conditions, their heart is safe to play.

Sports physicals are a long-established standard of care recommended by medical, education and sports communities, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM).

For more information, go to PPE During COVID-19

Learn Life-Saving Skills from Home and Support Our Mission to Protect Young Hearts Across the Country

Health & Safety Institute (HSI) and Parent Heart Watch (PHW) have partnered to offer HSI’s Remote Skills Verification (RSV) training technology for CPR, AED and First Aid to increase the SCA survival rate beyond 10%, where it has remained stagnant for three decades. Given over 356,000 people are lost each year to SCA, of which 23,000 are youth under age 18, there is a critical need to equip the public with basic skills that could triple a victim’s chance of survival.

Full 2-year certification
Interactive, remote, online learning
Hands-on skills training
Live instructors provide real-time feedback

For more information, go to CPR Training

Watch Some of Our Recent Videos

Additional Resources

CPR & AED Training

American Heart Association
Emergency Care and Safety Institute
American Red Cross
National Safety Council

Disease Specific/Heart Organizations

Children’s Cardiomyopathy Foundation
Heart Rhythm Society (find a doctor)
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association
Kawasaki Disease Foundation
National Marfan Foundation
Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndromes Foundation
The Pediatric & Congenital Electrophysiology Society (PACES)

Training for Physicians

ECG Interpretation in Athletes
A free and open-access state-of-the-art E-Learning course to train physicians in the use of the international consensus recommendations for ECG interpretation in athletes.

Cardiac Risk Assessment in Youth
Accredited, Free, On-Demand CME/CNE to incorporate Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention into primary care practices