Helping hearts in Bellmore-Merrick

Last Saturday Grand Avenue Middle School and Merrick Avenue Middle School held their fourth annual echocardiogram screenings for eighth-grade students.

Some 185 Merrick-Bellmore students turned out for the event that tests for heart abnormalities.

The yearly screenings are funded by the Jason F. Gruen Research Foundation in conjunction with Dr. Fred Bierman, director of pediatric cardiology of Cohn Children's Hospital of North Shore-LIJ Health Systems.

Susan Gruen Helsinger, of Merrick, started the foundation in memory of her son Jason, who died from idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis and cardiomyopathy when he was a sophomore at Manhasset High School.

"[The foundation] means that my son's memory is continuing," Helsinger said. "He was a wonderful young man, an honor student, and I always want his memory to be perpetuated."

Screenings were conducted at high schools and middle schools throughout Nassau County this school year. To date, more than 1,300 students have been screened and more than 30 were found to have various cardiac abnormalities.

"The Merrick-Bellmore community and the Merrick-Bellmore parents are wonderful," Helsinger said. "It's an honor to do this for these families, and for these schools. Of all the communities we do, they are the most supportive."

Because the turnout was so large this year, the Jason F. Gruen Research Foundation is planning a second screening in Bellmore-Merrick on June 5.

For more information, visit www.TheJasonGruenFoundation.org.