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Hearts For The Homeless Brings Free Heart Screenings To Unhoused Communities

Public Health sophomore Arushi Shyam explains a man's vitals at the Church Under the Bridge on Sunday. The Hearts for the Homeless student organization takes vital signs and provides education for the less fortunate on heart health on several occasions each week.

Amidst the busy streets of Austin, a compassionate group of aspiring healthcare workers provides care to the overlooked corners of the city. With the heart being a central part of the body's overall well-being, this organization offers a unique lifeline to the people experiencing homelessness, making a difference one heartbeat at a time.

Hearts for the Homeless, a UT club, hosts free heart screenings for the homeless three times a week at various local spots, such as Micah 6 and Church Under the Bridge. While the club focuses on screenings, it also provides heart health education, information about free clinics and care packages. Public health sophomore Arushi Shyam said volunteering made her realize the importance of healthcare for all. 

"Being in the group has helped me realize that heart health is a large indicating factor of a person's health," Shyam said. "I actually switched my major from neuroscience to public health because I realized … we need to give more access to health care."

Shyam said that while the club cannot inform patients of high blood pressure, they can instead suggest resources. 

"We use the American Heart Association as one of our measures of what is (a) good blood pressure and … if it is within a concerning range, legally, we can't say anything because we're not qualified," Shyam said. "We can suggest (the) different things that could help them improve their blood pressure and also what they can do or where they can go to."

The club boasts more than 200 members, and while most are pre-health and science majors, public health junior and club officer Ama Abeynayake said the club welcomes and trains everyone. Abeynayake said on top of screenings, the club also hopes to increase awareness. 

"A lot of these communities smoke or eat unhealthy foods because that's what (is) easily accessible to them," Abeynake said. "We hope by doing this, we can help these vulnerable populations increase their awareness and also provide those that already have high blood pressure with the care that they need."

Public health junior and club president Grace Ugochukwu said she plans to obtain bus passes for the homeless in the near future.

"One of my big plans is to establish (a) partnership with CapMetro (so) we can get bus passes to our population because accessibility has been an issue that we've noticed when we do these screenings," Ugochukwu said.

Ugochukwu said she enjoys seeing recurring faces at the weekly screenings.

"I really enjoy what we actually do because I can see the difference that we make," Ugochukwu said. "You see people come up to you, same faces come up to you, telling you they got their blood pressure down — it's such a great experience."

Additionally, Ugochukwu said that volunteering connects aspiring healthcare workers with the population. 

"As a (future) physician, I feel all physicians should know how to talk and interact with different people from different communities," Ugochukwu said. "One of the main issues regarding public health is health equity and access, and this is something I've been working with directly through this (organization) … (and) it's balanced with my aspirations."

Foundation Donates AEDs For Two Los Gatos Parks

Residents of the West Valley are soon to have access to more resources to prevent or mitigate sudden cardiac arrest or a heart attack, thanks to the Kyle J. Taylor Foundation.

The Los Gatos-based foundation donated AEDs that will be installed in two parks in Los Gatos, and has been working with the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District to implement heart screenings for student athletes. The donations are part of the foundation's broader efforts to help prevent and mitigate sudden cardiac arrest after executive director Jennifer Sarmento's son, Kyle John Taylor, died at age 18 from the condition.

The AEDs, or automatic external defibrillators, will be placed at Blossom Hill Park and Creekside Sport Park. The donation of the AEDs also comes with SaveStation AED cabinets, which protects the devices from the elements and can remotely notify staff in the event that someone opens a cabinet.

Town staff will perform ongoing maintenance of the devices as needed once they're installed, according to a staff report.

Sarmento said it's not common for AEDs to be accessible in outdoor spaces, and the foundation wanted to focus on placing the devices in areas where children often gather.

Councilmember Rob Moore, who was a close friend of Taylor's, spoke in favor of the donation at the April 2 council meeting.

"It's really meaningful to honor his legacy by placing these AEDs in our town and potentially be saving the life of someone else like Kyle Taylor," Moore said.

The Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District is joining the Campbell Union High School District in being an early adopter of mandatory heart screenings for student athletes. Starting in the 2024-25 academic year, all 1,501 of the district's student athletes will be required to undergo heart screenings before the beginning of the school year.

The screening goes beyond the physicals that student athletes are usually required to complete, consisting of a study of students' family history, an EKG test and a check of their blood pressure. The foundation will provide staffing for the screenings, including a doctor who can immediately provide students with their results.

Sarmento said of the roughly 2,700 students screened at the Campbell school district over the past two years, nine students were found to have heart conditions, a number that mirrors national averages. Six students from the Campbell district have died from sudden cardiac arrest in recent years, she added.

Los Gatos-Saratoga High School District nurse Lisa Tripp said the district wants all students to get screened, and as such is encouraging students who can't afford the $20 cost to reach out to her to see if the district or the foundation can cover it.

"We will make sure that there's no student turned away," she added.

After all student athletes are screened in the fall, Tripp said, the district will start to require annual screenings for students in ninth and eleventh grades.

"I don't want to say it was an easy sell, but when you look at some of these kids and the cause of their cardiac arrest knowing that an EKG could have saved them or identified it prior to their cardiac arrest, I think it just pushed the school district that much quicker when we came in and offered this service to them," Sarmento said.

CR's Guide To A Healthy Heart

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