During Heart Health Month, it is important not to forget how cardiovascular diseases affect younger patients. In fact, sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death for exercising young athletes. “It's a tragic story that many of us have heard and seen on the, TV or read in the newspaper of a young, healthy athlete doing the things that they love to do, and suddenly they just drop. And, unfortunately, some of those people die,” said Dr. Hank Pelto, a sports medicine doctor at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. “It's something that we take very seriously as sports medicine physicians. And in the medical world in general.” According to Dr. Pelto, most of these diseases are silent diseases, which means the first sign of any issue from a cardiac perspective in young athletes is sudden cardiac arrest. Virginia Mason Franciscan Health is partnering with the Nick of Time Foundation and the Seattle Seahawks to help screen young athletes for potential cardiac conditions and abnormalities. "The Nick of Time Foundation is just an incredible group founded by Dr. Little Runty, whose son, Nick Frenchy, died of sudden cardiac arrest in high school. The Nick at Time Foundation puts on heart screenings at local high schools and on March 8th will be at the Virginia mason Athletic Complex," Dr. Pelto said. These events include a comprehensive heart screening where doctors take your family and personal histories, listen to your heart and perform an EKG. "An EKG is a really important piece of this, which looks at the electrical activity of the heart and helps us distinguish 80 plus percent of the things that could potentially be wrong with the heart," Dr. Pelto said. "We're very fortunate to have echocardiograms on site. We can do an ultrasound of the heart. So, if anything flags is concerning history, heart sounds or the EKG, we get an even more extensive heart rate test right there at that moment." There is also CPR and AED placement training on-site to help make the community prepared for a potential heart event. "So, if an event like this happens, young people, older people, anybody along the age spectrum, we want people to have awareness of how to really, truly be lifesavers," Dr. Pelto said. Dr. Pelto’s patient, Albert Lee, attended the screening event last year and left with more than just helpful heart information. “It was a great experience,” Lee said. “Basically, I got my EKG after that, learned how to do CPR and how to use the aids. So, that was pretty neat and fun, and it's a good thing to know. And then I went to Dr. Pelton, and he showed me a scan of the EKG that I had an abnormality. From there they just I was in their hands, and they took care of me.” Lee and his parents had no idea about the presence of the abnormality prior to getting screened which is very common with abnormalities in young adults. While the unknown might be scary, Dr. Pelton encourages people to get screened to know the status of their heart. "A real key point of these screenings is that there's some understandable fear that people have about, ‘Oh, I'm going to find something or we're going to see something in myself or my child,’” said Dr. Pelton. “Our goal is to enhance the activity and continue to allow for safe participation in sports. Albert is a great example of this. We find something [that's] clearly an abnormality and a problem, something that could have been life altering for him. And then we give him the best advice we can treat it.” After his EKG and echocardiogram, Lee had surgery to help with his heart abnormality and two to three weeks later he was able to go back to normal activities and even played in a baseball tournament. Dr. Pelto recommends that parents keep up with regular screenings and to see a doctor if their child starts experiencing chest pains or shortness of breath while exercising. "We're just really lucky to partner with people like Virginia Mason Franciscan Health and the Seattle Seahawks to have these big screenings," he said. "So, sign up, come see us and get tested." This year's free heart screening with the Nick of Time Foundation, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health and the Seahawks is happening on March 8th at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center. To register, click here. Sponsored by Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Segment Producer Joseph Suttner. Watch New Day Northwest 11 a.m. weekdays on KING 5 and streaming live on KING5.com. Contact New Day.