UM Sports Medicine Institute Offers EKG Screenings for Student Athletes
Kristopher Paultre, M.D. practices at the University of Miami Sports Medicine Institute, part of the University of Miami Health System. For more information on EKG screenings for high school athletes and other treatments and services, click here or visit the UHealth Collective.
MEET COACH KIRKLAND AND SON KASH
Josh Kirkland isn’t just 14-year-old Kash’s football coach at Westminster Christian School–-he’s also his dad.
“Coach is pretty hard on me, but I know that he’s trying to get the best out of me,” says Kash.
Coach Kirkland is tough on all his players but wants to keep them safe on the field. Kristopher Paultre, M.D., at the University of Miami Sports Medicine Institute, part of the University of Miami Health System, says the goal is to add electrocardiograms or EKG screenings for all high school athletes.
“Certain arrhythmias are known to cause sudden cardiac death and that’s what we’re trying to prevent and that would be a red flag that we’d want to evaluate, treat and handle right away. So, when the right person’s reading this, you can identify those things,” Dr. Paultre says.
The University of Miami Sports Medicine Institute is taking cardiac care for high school athletes to a whole new level, offering screening EKG’s and follow-up care.
“They have the capabilities of doing Holter monitors, have the capability of doing stress echoes, regular echoes, cardiac MRIs if necessary,” says Dr. Paultre.
These services are available at all UHealth ambulatory centers including SoLé Mia in North Miami, UHealth Doral, the downtown medical campus and at the Lennar Foundation Medical Center in Coral Gables.
“We have our cardiology colleagues, both sports cardiology, pediatric cardiology and general cardiology there to work with us who we speak to all the time, because even though this was just passed for high school athletes, we’ve been doing this for a very long time with our college athletes. This is nothing new to us. This is just at a larger scale and it’s going to be a positive change,” Dr. Paultre says.
“Doesn’t mean you can’t play,” Coach Kirkland says. “Just gives you knowledge that you can lean on your trainers and your doctors.”
Coach Kirkland is proud of his son’s performance on and off the field.
“He’s not just a good athlete. He’s a very, very unique young man. Mature for his age and an extremely hard worker,” Kirkland says.
Both dad and son are looking forward to a healthy and successful season!
“Hoping that we can go far in the playoffs and win a state championship,” says Kash.