NORFOLK, Va. — Since 2017 Dr. George Sarris, a cardiology specialist with Sentara, has dedicated the resources to screen for potential heart conditions among incoming ODU athletes. It may seem like a new concern after LeBron James' son Bronny James went into cardiac arrest during a basketball practice at the University of Southern California last week or since Bills safety Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest shook the nation in January. These are high-profile cases that have been prominent in the news but this local partnership has been ahead of the curve.
Nearly all ODU athletes, including all of those in contact sports, already receive a complete cardiac exam before first stepping on the field or the court. Together ODU athletics and Sentara Healthcare, screen over 100 incoming athletes each year for potential health conditions in order to prevent events like Hamlin's and James'.
Old Dominion is all too familiar with these incidents.
Men's basketball point guard Imo Essien collapsed during an early January game at Georgia Southern, just days after Hamlin's incident. As a result, the incident received national media coverage.
The second event occurred in early May when ODU women's tennis player Mya Byrd collapsed inside the Folkes-Stevens Indoor Tennis Center. Her heartbeat had slowed to a crawl, her breathing was shallow and she was unconscious.
"The concern that we have is that athletes are a patient population that I don't want to say have been ignored, but underserved when it comes to their health," said Sarris. "Only recently because of prominent events the nation has taken an interest but this has been going on for decades."
The screenings take about 15 minutes each with athletes given an EKG and echocardiogram, a cardiac ultrasound that examines the heart. Both transfers and incoming players on ODU's men's and women's basketball teams received their screening at Sentara on Monday morning.
"We're looking at the structure and the function of the heart. We're looking at all of the heart chambers, the heart valves, and the blood flowing through the heart," one nurse told me.
The athletes themselves are huge advocates of the process. Leeroy Odiahi, a junior transfer on the men's basketball team says the sooner they find a potential underlining health condition, the better.
"I was kind of excited to be honest because if something was wrong I'd rather find out now rather than when the season starts," said Odiahi.