Free screenings help youths get in touch with their heart health

Young adults got a closer look at their heart health at the 24th Play for Patrick heart screening event on Sunday.

The Patrick Schoonover Heart Foundation teamed up with the Training HAUS on the Minnesota Vikings’ training campus in Eagan to make it happen.

Young men and women ages 14-21 got their hearts screened at the event to make sure they were healthy.

It’s an effort that hits close to home for one Minnesota family.

Back in 2014, Mike and Gayle Schoonover’s son Patrick was playing in a hockey tournament in Brainerd, Minnesota. He scored the game’s first goal and moments later, he collapsed on the ice due to sudden cardiac arrest.

His parents said he had several heart defects that were never detected during exams or physicals.

“We made it our mission to make sure parents didn’t feel what we felt… the loss of a loved one for something that could have been prevented,” Mike Schoonover said.

So, the family created the Patrick Schoonover Foundation — Play for Patrick — to raise awareness and hold free heart screenings for young adults.

At Sunday’s event, 200 kids from all over the region learned how to do CPR, had AED training and got their hearts screened.

Over the last six years, the screenings have caught 252 heart defects. The effort changed lives, just like Colin Tollefson’s.

The 20-year-old was a friend of Patrick’s. Five years ago, Tollefson went to a screening and found out he was living with a heart defect.

“I was surprised when I found out. I thought I was just going to get a checkup to see that I was all good but found out I had an abnormal heart condition, so everyone should come here to get it checked out,” Tollefson said.

The foundation will have another screening on Saturday, Apr. 9, at Lakeville North High School from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Visit the foundation’s website to register.