Foothill College athletics partners with local foundation to combat cardiac arrests

When Jennifer Sarmento and her husband first started knocking on peoples’ doors to raise awareness about sudden cardiac arrests, they had to work hard to convince them to opt their kids into screenings.

Now, having founded the Kyle J. Taylor Foundation, the group spent Saturday hosting Foothill College’s first cardiac health screening for all fall athletes at the college. 

“We’re now booked through next year,” said Sarmento, founder and executive director of the foundation.

Sarmento started the foundation in May 2018 in honor of her son, who passed away from sudden cardiac arrest just a few months earlier. She and her husband have worked tirelessly to help raise awareness about sudden cardiac arrests and work towards preventing them.

Saturday’s clinic was the first of many to come now that all Foothill athletes are required to receive a cardiac health screening to participate in sports, making them the first community college in California to do so.

Sarmento said that sudden cardiac arrests are the No. 1 cause of death among student-athletes. 

“Pre-participation physicals or annual physicals that kids get miss about 85% of the issues that cause cardiac arrest,” she said. “They have to be seen on an echocardiogram, and that’s what we do.”

Since its first screening in October 2019, the foundation has grown “exponentially,” Sarmento said. They’ve performed about 40 screenings, and have grown from just three family members to a whole team of volunteers.

Sarmento added that they are the only foundation doing screenings as of now, and they work with schools like UC Davis, where they do screenings twice a year.

Their partnership with Foothill College began after two student-athletes were hospitalized in a very short period of time because of sudden cardiac arrest.

“I’m going into my 18th year, and I’ve had maybe four an entire 17 years prior, and now we’re up to two,” Foothill athletic trainer Michelle Schukraft said. “At that point, we decided it was time to figure out why.”

Saturday’s screening not only featured Foothill athletes but also students from Los Gatos and Campbell Union school districts.

To get screened, athletes must register ahead of time. Once they arrive, they fill out a questionnaire about family and health history, and they get their blood pressure taken. After this, they learn hands-only CPR, which Sarmento said is because not only do they want them to get screened, but to also walk away with an extra skill.

Every student then does a 12-lead Echocardiogram test, which tests for various cardiac issues. Afterward, they meet with an on-site doctor who goes over the test with them, and who will tell them if the test looked good or if they need additional tests.

Saturday’s screening was the first of many for the college, with another planned for August 24, said Simon Pennington, Foothill’s associate vice president of college and community affairs.

Dr. Waldo Joseph, who worked at Saturday’s screening, said that it’s more important now than ever to do cardiac screening tests.

“Sport now is elevated to a particular level, right? These individuals are our elite,” he said. “They’re really running kind of on the razor’s edge in terms of pushing their bodies to their maximum abilities.”