JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A district-wide initiative is taking proactive steps to protect student athletes, providing heart screenings to athletes across Duval County middle schools throughout the year and helping them meet new state requirements for high schoolers next year.

Misty Hudson and her daughter Mya were among those that came to the free heart screening event at Fletcher Middle School Thursday.

“In recent years, this has become not a rare occurrence, unfortunately, with youth athletes having cardiac events, so it’s a great preventative measure,” Hudson said.

The National Institute of Health says cardiac arrests are the leading cause of sports-related deaths, mostly due to the athlete having underlying heart conditions.

Now, Duval Schools and The Jacksonville Sports Medicine Progra

See Full Page