School notes for Sept. 25, 2012

Free Childfind screenings set

There will be free screenings for all children ages 3 to 5 who live within the Camas School District boundaries on Wednesday, Oct. 10.

The screening tests children in hearing, vision, speech, concepts and motor development, and lasts approximately one hour. Results are confidential and discussed with parents only.

For an appointment, call the Camas School District Special Services Department at 833-5570.

Coalition receives $125,000 to prevent youth substance abuse

Educational Service District 112’s PREVENT! Coalition received a Drug Free Communities Support Program Continuation Grant from the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Through the grant, PREVENT! Coalition, the Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition of Clark County, will receive $125,000 per year, during the next five years to continue the coalition’s work in addressing substance abuse among youth in Clark County.

The grant is a continuation of a previous five-year grant that ends this month. PREVENT! also received its continuation of the Drug Free Communities Mentoring grant, an additional $75,000 over the next year to mentor other similar coalitions.

The mentoring grant allows PREVENT! staff to mentor two other coalitions, Prevent Together: Battle Ground Prevention Alliance and the Skamania Community Mobilization Against Substance Abuse. Combined with the required match and in-kind donations, the grant will bring more than $1.5 million in prevention dollars into Clark County over the next five years.

“Efforts to keep our youth drug-free are critical to healthy and safe communities here in Clark County,” said PREVENT! Coordinator Sean Chavez. “This grant will help fund amazing collaborations, partnerships and prevention efforts across Clark County.”

Since 2005, PREVENT! has collaborated with community partners to promote substance abuse and underage drinking in Clark County.

The DFC Program provides grants of up to $625,000 over 5 years to community coalitions that include citizen participation in local drug prevention efforts. Coalitions are composed of community leaders, parents, youth, teachers, religious and fraternal organizations, health care and business professionals, law enforcement, the media, and others working together at the local level.

The DFC Program was created by the Drug-Free Communities Act of 1997, and reauthorized by Congress in 2001 and 2006.

In April, President Obama released the 2012 National Drug Control Strategy, his administration’s blueprint for drug policy in the United States. The new plan promotes a “third way” approach to drug policy that supports alternatives to the “war on drugs” or drug legalization.

The strategy also outlines specific actions to be undertaken by the federal government to reform U.S. drug policy through public health and safety approaches, which include expanding access to drug treatment and recovery support programs, breaking the cycle of drug use, crime, and incarceration, and supporting youth outreach programs that prevent drug use before it begins.

Teen cardiac screenings set

Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel in Portland will host a Teen Athlete Cardiac Screening Saturday, Oct. 20, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Teen athletes and their parents will learn about heart health and find out whether they may be at risk of an undiagnosed heart condition, at the Adidas Village.

Preregistration is required at www.legacyhealth.org/TACS. The Teen Athlete Cardiac Screening will serve 500 students from throughout the Portland metropolitan area ages 13-19 and is $10 per student.

The screening provides heart health and risk assessment that helps identify whether a teen may be at risk from an undiagnosed heart condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) the leading cause of sudden cardiac death among young competitive athletes and the second most prevalent form of heart muscle disease. Once diagnosed, this life threatening heart condition can be treated to minimize its risk.

Cardiac health exams will be performed by a team of physicians, nurses and technicians. The exams include height, weight, body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure measurements; an electrocardiogram (ECG); a detailed health history; and cardiac exam. Students will receive their assessment results at the screening.

Recommendations will be made from a primary care physician or pediatric cardiologist to those needing further evaluation.

The screening does not take the place of the medical examination required for all student athletes participating in a school sport. The value of the cardiac screening provided by Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel is nearly $300 per screening.

The David Heller Foundation founded the Teen Athlete Cardiac Screening event in 2006, with the help of Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel. The mission of The David Heller Foundation is to help young athletes and their families avoid the silent disease that took the life of David Heller in 2005 at age 17. David died in his sleep from sudden cardiac arrest due to undiagnosed HCM.