After reading about a college student who died from sudden cardiac arrest, Brian Rodriguez wanted to be sure he had a healthy heart.

So when Eisenhower High School recently needed volunteers for an EKG screening program, where he would get to be tested himself, he was all in.

He learned about heart disease and had an electrocardiogram that recorded the electrical signals in his heart.

“I was scared at first, but I realized it all went well,” said Rodriguez, a junior who is on the soccer team and tennis team. “I understand it’s important for us to get tested. … We want to prevent these tragedies from happening.”

Several hundred students at the Blue Island school also had the free testing during a recent Young Hearts for Life cardiac screening program, which has takes place at District 218’s two other schools — Shepard High School in Palos Heights and Richards High School in Oak Lawn — and other schools in the southwest suburbs.

The nonprofit posted the information on the college student who died from sudden cardiac arrest, which is how Rodriguez came to see it.

Parents said they’re glad the district is doing the testing.

“I called parents, posted it in the school newsletter and on Facebook, saying, ‘Please let your child have it done,’” said Veronica Rodriguez, Brian’s mom and a school liaison, who has had three other teens at the school.

Rodriguez had good reason to want her son to get the test since she needed open heart surgery 25 years ago, after moving to Blue Island from Mexico, because a hole in her heart had never closed.

The test can detect 13 or 14 conditions that can cause sudden cardiac arrest, explained Denise Arenz, program director. Those conditions include Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, long QT syndrome, heart rhythm disorders and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, where the heart muscle becomes abnormally thickened.

Arenz said electrocardiograms can identify 70% to 80% of heart conditions and tend to have only a 2% false-positive rate.

Young Hearts has tested 338,000 students since 2006 and about 22,000 per school year, according to Arenz.

They’ve identified 3,600 students with previously undiagnosed heart conditions from those EKGs.

Earlier this month, five students at Richards High School had the screening and were found to have some type of abnormality.

“It is a proven program,” said Arenz. “The loss of one student … this is easily done to prevent something like that.”

Arenz also pointed out roughly 60 young adults die each week in the U.S. from sudden cardiac death, according to the American Heart Association.

Trained volunteers did the testing and checked the results for any danger signs.

Though results are checked immediately, the tests take several days to process and parents of any child with an abnormality need to be contacted before the findings become public.

The EKGs had a special meaning for Pat Bauer, of Mount Prospect, who performed the test on Brian Rodriguez and Rich Bauer, her husband, who helped check results.

Their late daughter, Allison, died from sudden cardiac death at 15.

“It’s rewarding doing this because you feel like you’re really helping,” said Pat Bauer. “I feel this probably would have saved my daughter’s life.”

Kyle Rathbun, athletic director at Eisenhower who helped with the event, said he was glad they did the testing.

“It’s a great experience for the kids,” said Rathbun. “Any time we can provide this for the community, we’re more than glad to help.

“Especially for anyone involved in athletics or physical activities, you want to make sure they have a healthy heart,” said Rathbun.

Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.