BFPCT Heart Assessment Recap

March 12, 2010 was a very important day for two organizations near and dear to my heart: the Jordan Robert Mann Foundation (JRM FDN) and the Bahati Foundation (FDN). On that day, the JRM FDN sponsored heart health assessments for the athletes and staff of the Bahati FDN Pro Cycling Team. Seeing that I was wearing two hats, one as Co-Director of the JRM FDN and the other as athlete of the Bahati FDN Pro Cycling Team, I was a bit nervous about facilitating the logistics while being instructed to rest as much as possible in preparation for the Bahati Foundation Launch and Team Presentation that evening (merits another blog post).

Leading up to the assessment we decided the best Pro Cycling Team deserved the best medical care. As such, we chose sports cardiologist, Dr. Tony Magalski, MD of Cardiovascular Consultants and Professor of Medicine, University of Missouri-Kansas City. With his extraordinary athlete-specific protocol, he would bring a team from the Athletic Heart Clinic of the St. Luke’s Mid-America Heart and Vascular Institute of Kansas City, MO consisting of Head Nurse and Assessment Director, Marcia McCoy, RN, MSN, Echocardiographer, Darby Hockman, and Electrocardiographer, Mary Nell Strautman. I should concede each of the aforementioned individuals, in addition to all at Cardiovascular Consultants, have been wonderful to our family since Jordan’s passing. We are blessed to have their support as Jordan’s FDN continues to grow.

The day of the assessments was incredibly busy, since the athletes and staff were hurrying to prepare for the FDN Launch and Team Presentation, so we only had a 5-hour window to evaluate 30 people. Normally a comprehensive assessment in the hospital would take several hours per individual, but the talented team was able to bring the assessment time down to 20-minutes per individual…pretty remarkable considering they were evaluating the athlete’s heart for nearly all conditions related to sudden cardiac death. Taking advantage of modern life-saving technologies, while being cost and time-effective? You decide if it’s worth it.

Please be well to your heart,

Phillip