On March 18, we welcomed our friends from Young Hearts 4 Life to our West Loop Campus to provide free heart screenings for our young men and women.

Young Hearts 4 Life provides electrocardiograms for young adults throughout Chicagoland to detect possible cardiac conditions that put them at risk for life-threatening rhythm disturbances. These can lead to anything from fainting to sudden cardiac death.

Volunteers are trained to administer EKGs and the results are read by the founder and medical director of the organization, Dr. Joe Marek.

“The EKG is pretty reliable in detecting [problems],” Marek said. “It’s a simple, painless test. [And if we find an issue], a lot of times it’s manageable when it’s caught early. It’s often the [issue] is not curable, but they’re manageable so the patient could live a normal life expectancy.”

Dr. Marek and his wife Kathy, who is also involved in the organization, first heard about Mercy Home over 20 years ago and have been faithful donors ever since. They have visited Mercy Home to provide these free tests in the past, and as the COVID-19 restrictions are being lessened, we were thrilled to welcome them back to our Home!

Thank you to everyone at Young Hearts 4 Life for generously donating their time and talents on a weekend to make sure that our kids stay healthy!

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