Play for Patrick provides free heart screenings to teenagers and young adults

[KSTP TV, October 26, 2019] Next month marks five years since a 14-year-old hockey player collapsed on the ice in Brainerd and died. Patrick Schoonover was competing in the Blue Ox Hockey Bantam AA Tournament. Patrick had scored the first goal of the game before he collapsed.

“He had two undetected conditions with his heart, and we didn't know about it," Patrick's dad said.

About 200 people aged 14 to 24 turned out Saturday to Eastview High School in Apple Valley to receive heart screenings held by Play for Patrick, a nonprofit Patrick Schoonover's parents founded in his memory to provide free heart screenings for teenagers and young adults.

Several doctors also volunteered their time, including Dr. Jay Sengupta, a clinical cardiac electrophysiologist at the Minneapolis Heart Institute. “It’s a very small percentage of these kids that do have something serious, but when it's detected, it can be lifesaving,” Sengupta said.