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Hi, I am Sylvia and Austin. This is Insight, a presentation of iHeartMedia where we really do care about our local communities and all our listeners who live here. I ask you to please listen to these words. What we do for ourselves dies with us, what we do for others and the world remains and is immortal. This quote was on the t shirt of nineteen year old Peyton Walker when she passed from sudden cardiac arrest almost eleven years ago. Those powerful words inspired Peyton's mom, Julie, to honor Peyton and turn her terrible grief into something remarkable, which is now known as the Peyton Walker Foundation. Through the Paint Walker Foundation, Julie's made her focus to protect student athletes from sudden cardiac arrest, which is the number one killer of student athletes in the United States and the number two killer of kids because of medical causes under twenty five. It's Julie's hope that her efforts are going to keep other parents from going through what she went through. And today we're going to talk with her about her daughter, Peyton, the reality of sudden car excuse me, cardiac arrest among young athletes. Exactly what she's done, and she continues to do to protect our kids, and what you can do to help her, Jillie. As I mentioned in November, oh gosh, you'll we eleven years this November Peyton passed. Could you tell us briefly what happened to your Yeah, we got the phone call no parent ever wants to get. It was, you know, the picture perfect beautiful fall morning in central Pennsylvania, and our phone rang, and man, our life changed in a dime. And it was the president of King's College, where Peyton was a sophomore studying to be a physician assistant. He was calling to let us know they had just taken Peyton by ambulance to the hospital. And of course our first thought is, you know, was she out partying last night drinking? What the heck is going on? And then a few minutes later, our phone rang again, and this time it was actually a nurse from the emergency room calling to let us know they had just admitted Peyton into the are and she was in full cardiac arrest. We had no idea what that even meant, and it just you're you're absolutely paralyzed and frozen and don't even know how to react. So the nurse did say, please get here as quickly and safely as you can. So you start that drive. You want to get there, but it's also terrifying because you don't. You don't want to get there, and yeah, and just face hell on earth. Unfortunately, we lost Peyton that day to sudden cardiac arrest. We did not get to say goodbye. She was gone before we got there. They did everything they could to try to save her, but unfortunately there was It was just a terrible outcome. We decided to start the Peyton Walker Foundation because we knew there was a lot of work to be done. Her shirt that you just referenced, I never forgot that from the eve. Been in here a couple of times since Payton passed, and that's that quote sticks with me. It absolutely does. And I truly believe her spirit knew she was on her way out and that something needed to be done with her life. It had to have meeting meaning and what was the impact that she could have. And as I mentioned, she wanted to be a physician assistant. So really our foundation has enabled Peyton's legacy to be in healthcare and to save lives in so many different ways. So it's been truly remarkable. Like her in her death, she's probably had a much greater impact than she could have had, you know, had she had a normal career in health care. So we started the foundation and over the past ten years, I can't believe what we have gotten on. I can't anything, and it is And I'm the kind of person though that I am always looking forward, like what is next, and I don't take the time to sit in the success and really savor it. And there's too much to do, Sylvia, and I just yeah, I just I know what what you know, we were always coming up with I want to call them, you know, crazy ideas and thoughts and initiatives whatever. But we're always forward momentum. You know, things don't happen. And that's what I love about grassroots organizations like ours is we accomplish so much on a shoe string budget, yes, with a tiny staff, and we're this the grassroots organizations that make a difference and get things absolutely well. I want to talk about a lot of those things. But first of all, for those who don't know what is cardiac risk? What happens to your heart when you go into cardiac or risk? Great question because it's very different than a heart attack. So kids typically don't have a heart attack. We think of you know, people in their forties, fifties, sixties older having a heart attack. It's a plumbing issue a heart attack. We liken it too. You know, your your kitchen sink, you can see it clogs up. It's got some fat and grease in the pipes, and so there's absolutely so somebody who's having a heart attack, you can you can like a sink, you can see it clogging up. If someone's having a heart attack, they're having some chest pain and pressure, they might be sweating and nauseous, so you have time to react. You have time to call the ambulance or get to the er. Whereas that cardiac or ass completely different. It is a power basically a power failure of the heart. So it's basically flip the light switch off and game over. So as soon as someone's in cardiac arrest, it's an electrical disruption, excuse me, and the heart is not pumping blood through the body, so you are dead the minute you have a cardiac arrasp for the most part, and it's so essential, you have no time. You've got to get CPR started, and you've got to get an AED on this person to hopefully restart their heart. You know, the whole world saw DeMar Hamlin go down. Then I don't think we'll ever stop talking about him because that was such a teachable moment for everybody, and people understand, Now, what does sudden cardiac arrests look like? And that's what it is. It is someone is standing up and all of a sudden they collapse and complete cardiac arrest and they're basically dead and we need to revive them. So two completely different things. Cardiac arrest happens to kids. Heart attacks do not. So and like I said, you've got seconds or minutes to really respond and work on saving their lives. There are really all only two things you can do for that CPR, and to have it to fipulated, that's it. That's it. You've got to respond. And I think one of the things we need to talk about too is a lot of these kids, as we said about the athletes in the United States, they the reason the cardiac arrest isn't detected is because when you try out for something like that, all these years, nobody bothered to check these kids' hearts. So the heart's problems going detected. Right, Well, that's right, And there's different things that can cause cardiac arrest. It can be a genetic issue, which is okay, the issue we have in our family, so Peyton we have a different story though we knew Peyton had this heart issue, but she was under the care of a cardiologist, was not allowed to play sports, was on medication, so we thought we were managing everything correctly. So these underlying conditions can be genetic. It could be a viral issue. Somebody can get a virus and they've got inflammation around the heart. It can be these energy drinks kids are drinking, all this caffeine, all these chemicals that kids are putting in their bodies their pre workouts. Those are not healthy for you. They can really disrupt the electrical activity of the heart, which then can lead to cardiac arrest. And it also, like into mar Hamlin's case, the commodial cordis when you have at the exact wrong time, wrong place, you get struck in the chest and that disrupts the heart's rhythm. So those are different things that can cause the cardiac arrest. But most of the arrests that we see are due to hidden heart issues that were never detected. And that's why we really advocate strongly for adding electric cardiograms to all physicals, sports physicals, well child physicals. It is a simple, painless, non invasive test that every kid should have because we know we could save so many lives if we added this to these physicals. But as dedicated as this lady is, she even had legislation paths that focuses on that. Right we did, so we had Patent's Law passed in twenty twenty. And you know, here's me again starting a foundation out there advocating for a full time children, husband and home. Get out of my way, right, So we start working on getting legislation passed and meet with my little rose colored glasses. I have no idea what it takes to get a law passed, but thankfully we had a phenomenal partner in Senator Reagan and his entire team, and they worked with us and got Peyton's Law passed. And really it's it helps to educate parents and families who have kids in sports in the PIAA schools all throughout Pennsylvania that they it raises awareness of what is sudden cardiac arress, What are the signs and symptoms and encourages them to get an electric cardiogram and why and what you know, what the benefits are. So it doesn't mandate screening, but at least it helps to educate parents about this is a really potential life saver that you might want to, you know, either take the extra time, spend the little extra money, get this test done for your kids. And it's not that much money. It typically is not, but there are a lot of families that don't have the resources to do it, and we're working on trying to change that. But Peyton's Law, you know, it was a start. We're so blessed that we had unanimous support. Well it's been a few years from that, Julie, how have you heard anything about how that's been going. You know, it is really interesting because I'll hear from parents all the time. They reach out and say, you know, thank you. When I filled out the packet for the pre participation packet for my son or daughter to play sports, I read that whole section. I know, it is interesting. So it's nice to know parents are reading it and really kind of absorbing that information that we're giving them info and resources to at least make an informed decision, because if parents aren't given the information, how would they ever know that an electric cardiogram can help? Yeah, tech these issues? Yeah, that's right. So we know people are reading it's helping, and you know, on the other end, I'm not sure how you know if a parent comes to a physician's office and says, hey, I read this in this sports packet, I'd like to get an electric cardigram. I'm not sure how receptive our medical doctors are at this point, but it's something that continuing to educate medical providers on and we're working with UPMC right now. Can we make this the standard of care even you know, instead of trying to pass additional legislation or work with the insurance companies, can we just work with the healthcare systems and try to fix this? You know, again, here's me barging through. The barging through because I don't have the time or patients to deal with with getting another law passed, or fighting the insurance agency their lobbying efforts or to to I don't have I just don't have the resources to to fight that. So I think if we continue to educate healthcare systems, you know, I attend other conferences and I learn so much from medical professionals globally and see like it's right there, Like why can't we do this for the kiddos? Why can't we make this the standard of care? I get a little passionate about this. Sorry if I'm I totally understand. Yeah, there's a lot of room to make improvements here. And I think the more we educate parents and the more they demand this simple electric cardiogram test for their kids that helps define these hidden herd issues, the more we press for it and demand it, I think, the better the chances are that we're going to affect change. We know. I've often talked to people and they say, not here in central Pennsylvania. And this is what surprises me with so many issues that how many times have you heard locally about a kid dropping over at basketball practice or on football fields in this area and nobody seems to nobody is here. You find out it was second cardiac or ress right, and usually the headline will say kid has heart attack, you know, so they're not educated about it. So it's a media issue. We need to do a little bit better education. But it is happening all around us, and two. I want to get the point that it's not just athletes. I actually just came from a conference where data was presented and found that non athletes are more likely to have cardiac arrests than athletes. So I think statistically we have more kids that are not athletic than our athletics. I think that's why that's that statistic is skewed a little bit. So this happens. This does not discriminate between athletes and non athletes. Every child is potentially at a risk again for a genetic issue. It could be a viral issue. It could be these these supplements, it could be these energy drinks. I know the family that is suing Panera bread for their high energy, their charge lemonades. So you know, know what your kids are putting in their bodies. Make sure we're not letting them drink so much caffeine or these like again, these pre supplement therese pre workout supplements. We're gonna we're going to make a difference that way, but parents have to be educated. We talked about the AEDs and the CPR classes. Tell us about your experience with the ads. You've had it. We've saved a bunch of people of last couple of years. It's you know, it's amazing when we get these phone calls that one of the AEDs or automated external defibrillators, that's what delivers a shock when someone's in cardiac arrest. But we get a phone call that one of the AEDs save somebody, there's nothing like it. There's it is unbelievable. And you know, last February, we had an incredible save at the Olympic Skating Center. A ten year old little girl was saved. And knowing that her family is never going to have to deal with this heartache that we carry with us forever, that was a game changer. That one, especially, I'll carry with me forever. And you know what, excuse me a second, but I have to say this, Julie, I've never lost a child. I've worried about that from the time my child was born. Oh my god, you know how that how we are as mother's. But even when you come in here and I have to ask you questions about Peyton, there's a feeling in me that I can't ask July that because that pain will never go away. It does, it doesn't, and you don't get over it. You move forward. You don't move on, you move forward from it. And yeah, it will never go away. It will never go away, the pain every day, And I say, over time it does change, it gets different. It gets that the pain is deeper and more searing because her friends are getting married, her friends are having children, and I see everything we miss out on. But from day one, it's been so important to me to be grateful for what was instead of hateful for what isn't and what can't be. And I think it's so much of surviving. This is your own mindset and you have to be choose to be resilient and choose to survive. And every day I choose to get out of bed and put two feet on the ground and try to fix it so another family doesn't have to suffer through this. And it's it is choice. And you know, people, some people just are so buried and drowning and paralyzed in their grief and they can't move forward through it or from it. And I tell people, never hesitate to ask me about my daughter. There is no question that is out of bounds or off I've often about that, ye never never. I love to talk about my daughter. This is such an opportunity to help other families. So I'm accustomed to talking about it, you know, out of my whole family, I'm obviously the most vocal about it because everyone deals with it very differently. So I'm comfortable about it. I wouldn't come here and talk to you if I wasn't. So no questions are off off the AEDs. It's been, like I said, going on eleven years. How many do you have out there now? Wow? Over six hundred, I know, with another three hundred coming to Dolphin County. And our really exciting like I just mentioned the one big save we had, but our really exciting project we have been rolling out. We've been working on this for over two years. It's called the four Minute City. Yeah, so wow. I mean you can't see it, but I have a huge smile on my face as we're talking about that when I first heard about that. Holy don't it this thing? This is an incredible project. So it's a brand new AED that came out to the market. You know, many years there's been absolutely no change, no development in AEDs and this is a game changer to the market, a major disruptor kind of what Uber did to transportation. This avive aed has absolutely changed the future of how we're going to work on saving lives. So, Cumberland County is one of three locations in the United States in the operating we see operating this program. Yes, let's let's repeat that. So did Julie Walker have anything to do with this? You you have to hang one of three cities. Yeah, I mean that's kind of cool. We were the second state in the country to pass legislation about heart screening for kids. One of three locations in the United States working on this program. I mean, everyone listening, this is a huge deal, huge deal. So Cumberland County, we're working with Emergency Health Services Federation, all of the EMS systems in Cumberland County, the nine one one Center. So this is not just Peyton Walker Foundation. This is a community partnership coming together, all these different entities and organizations working together. We see a problem and we are resolved unequivocally to get make a difference. How can we shift the needle in saving lives? So four minute City, all these AEDs are connected to the nine one one Center, three hundred of them in Cumberland County, and anytime a nine one one operator gets a call suspects cardiac arrests, they hit a certain button through software, it is looking for the AED that is closest to the cardiac arrest, and it will send a notification to the AED and a text to the person who owns that AED saying there's a cardiac arrest nearby. Here's the address. Take this AED. And so we have three hundred people in Cumberland County who are willing to respond to these cardiac arrests. They take the AED, they can start CPR, they can get there more quickly than em and that's that's part of the solution. Get there quickly. Yeah, there quickly four minutes. So if we can get people there within four minutes, starting CPR, chess compressions, getting the AED on the victim, we're increasing their chances of survival exponentially. And what is really cool is because I'm I'm an administrator for this whole program, I get all of the text alerts for every cardiac arrest that happens in Cumberland County. Then I can jump on my computer and I can watch AEDs and our responders trying to get there quickly to the You can watch them on a map moving closer to where the cardiac arre suspected cardiac arrest is taking place, and I'm you know, sitting there cheering, come on, come on, you're almost there. And we've had multiple so really we started getting all these AEDs into the market in January. Multiple situations where we've had our volunteers on scene before EMS gets there. They're starting CPR, they're getting the device on. Sometimes an AED doesn't it won't work somebody. It might be too late, it is not going to it's not going to revive the person. They're going to need medications from a paramedic or something. So at least we've had multiple times and we know our care team members are there more quickly, so we know that save is coming. But we're taking this program, we're replicating it and doing the same thing in Dolphin County. So if you live or work in Dauphin County and you want an AED, these are free. Let me repeat that these are free. There is no cost for these AEDs. We just ask that you participate in the program. We do tons of fundraising to cover the cost. It's a you know, between half a million and a million dollars per county. That's a huge undertaking for us to get involved in to raise money. But what's the price of a life? Silve? I mean, well, you know figure that out. You were talking about Camberland County. Since you've been using this, how many times have you seen this happen? Oh my gosh, I mean all the time. I was out of the area the last week and I want to say maybe eight alerts came through so in the week now, I don't we don't know for sure it's a suspected cardiac arrest, so not every one of them will be a cardiac arrest. But still eight times that we have dispatched people to these you know, potential cardrests. So I mean, we know there's a lot of suspected cardiac arrests in Cumberland County and same we know the same thing is going to hold true in Dauphin County. So as we roll this program out, we're looking for people to come forward who want to help you. You can be in healthcare, you can be a teacher, you can be you can work in you know, medicine, ems, whatever, or you can anything. If you're an engineering firm or bank or whatever. If you're willing to respond to an emergency. We will give you an AED. So go to four minute the number four four minute PA dot org for more information to sign up, and you may potentially help save a life. It could be someone in your family, you save a neighbor, you know, a coworker. You never know. It's unlimited the opportunity out there, and you'll save another family from this. You're constantly doing CPR classes to who's that open to Anyone can take CPR, So we're we're doing we do full certification classes, very low cost, all throughout the region. Anyone. We say kids like ten and older. But if you have some a mature kid who's eight years old and wants to learn CPR, bring them. They're welcome to come to the class. That's cool. Two hours we'll knocket out can do it. Then absolutely the whole family should come together learn CPR. CPR is really the first line of defense and helping to save lives. So give us two hours, we'll get you certified. But even if if you don't want to do a certification, we're all throughout the community offering demos and you know, we go to community fairs or baseball games or opening days whatever. We're everywhere just give us ten minutes and we can give you a skin. Again that could save one of your own family members. We taught a CPR class. Kirsten Keys, who works for the City of Harrisburg, she helped coordinate a CPR class. She used it to save a pastor at a conference she was at and called us on a Saturday morning like, Hey, I just saved a life thanks to the CPR class I attended. And again that's another phone called We get that and that just motivates me, like, oh, this is great. Now we need to do more CPR classes. We just don't stop. We have that relentless passion to just keep going because we can see the fruits of our labor and that's so incredible. That's so rewarding to get paid back for that. You found your ways pretty early into the football industry, if you want to call it that. One of the things you've done recently is to partner with the young guy from was at the University of Tennessee for Hearts. Yes, tell me about that. That's cool. Oh, it is exciting. So Huddle for Hearts is another initiative. And when we saw Deamar Hamlin go down, I thought, Okay, all right, how do we This is how my brain works, like, how do we go nationally with this? Peyton Walker doesn't necessarily mean anything outside of Central PA. You know, Susan g Coman that whole. They were masterful at making that a national name. But I just didn't think Peyton Walker was going to resonate nationally. So we started Huddle for Hearts and what it is is partnering with athletes from across the country to use their platforms to raise awareness of sudden cardiac oris signs and symptoms, what to watch for, why you should learn CPR, how to do CPR, what's an AED. So we partnered specifically with bru McCoy, he's the wide receiver from University of Tennessee, and got a sponsor lined up and for all of his touchdown catches, we were donating AEDs last season. Well, that was great until Brew had a terrible injury and broke his foot and was out for the rest of the season. But he is rehabbing and he'll be back at it again this football season next fall. But we're working with other athletes. We're going to be rolling out a huge campaign with several different athletes, a potential Olympic hockey field hockey player, junior Olympic soccer player, you know, more football players, Olympic skiers. We've got lots in the works. We're getting ready to do a huge role out for that. So this will be a huge campaign again just nationally to have a voice to raise awareness. One of the things you started with the team just started was the Big thirty three and Renewal by Anderson. I am so blown away by Linda. She's a go get her. For my gosh, that Renewaled by Anderson has been so generous and they're going to be sponsoring at the Big thirty three this year too. They are yeah, huge sponsorship this year, but Renewal has been a great partner. They last year also sponsored the heart screenings that we do. We screen the Big thirty three football players for Pennsylvania exactly, so again we're looking for these hidden hard issues that can lead to cardiac arrest and so we screened Team PA and then this year, for the first time, we are actually also screening the cheerleaders, all of the cheerleaders. A Marria Choice has underwritten that that the cost for that screening, So we're gonna have in the football players in Maryland also have a seven screening, So all of the athletes participating in the Big thirty three experience will receive a heart screening this year, which that's a huge, you know, huge move in the right direction. So again those not only are we helping the players, but those families of the players will all know about the importance and get hopefully any other siblings in the family screened as well. So we're having a huge impact with that. You know. Last year we did have some findings and worked with some families to help get them additional care as they needed for the siblings of the players as well, So that was really interesting and rewarding to see that come back to us. But our partnership with Big thirty three has been absolutely phenomenal. It's it's groundbreaking, as you know, just that they've prioritized the health and safety of their players the way that they do. It's just it's it's the perfect model that should be spread across all the sports going on. Oh my dad, Yeah, we got to figure that one out too. We'll talk about that. But you said that Peyton wasn't really an athlete, but she was a little bugger. She was the kind of anybody, egger on I'm doing. She was real adventurous, and you have an event that is very adventurous. What is it called we do so Peyton for many years worked up at Ski Roundtop in many different capacities, all four seasons, so it was her place, her special place by far, and we are hosting the Beat goes On Adventure Race, the third race of the thing that we've done over the past couple of years. So it's kind of like a tough mutter. You get wet, you get muddy, you get dirty, you were gonna laugh, You're gonna probably curse. We've got a five K and a two K, So the five K is twelve obstacles all throughout the mountain area, tons of fun if you enjoy that kind of stuff. There's also a two K, more family friendly that's got about six obstacles along that course. It goes up part of the mountain and then cuts across the mountain, so it's not as intense, but also a great day for spectators, which I've always said, I'm definitely in the spectator can hurry too. Not a participant, but you can ride the ski lift up, the chairlift up and up to the top. It's gorgeous. If you've never been there, I mean, what a great way to get up there and see central Pennsylvania from the top around top, absolutely stunning. You can take that chairlift up. Cheer on your family, friends, coworkers, whatever as they go through this race. Great great day. We also have food trucks there, musicians, and it's just a fun party. Say it's a part of it. Before that, you have another party that's going to introduce a beer. We do so at the end of the race, we have a finisher beer that everybody who's over twenty one that finishes the race gets a beer from Wolf Brewing. And Wolf just started the brew a couple of weeks ago and it's a special brew for Peyton. It's got purple in it. It's got blueberries and blackberries in it in beer. Her in beer. Her favorite color was purple. So working with the Wolf family, they came up with a special brew again this year. So the launch party, the release parties may first at Wolfing in Mechanics Burgs. Tons of fun, so come out and join us. We'll be doing some CPR demos, just some giveaways that night May first at Wolf Brewing and releasing the beer, So come out and try the Beat goes On beer at Wolf Brewing, and you know, also feel free to come out and support the race as well on May eighteenth. There are so many ways that people listening can support the Peyton Walker Foundation. How do they get in touch with you? And we're going to get more information about what you're doing Peytonwalker dot org. It's p e y t o N Peytonwalker dot org. And there are tons of way to support us. And like I said, especially this four Minute City program, we're looking at half a million to a million dollars per project, so that's a lot of fundraising that we need to undergo to make that project work and help save lives. But so support the race you can do that. We're always looking for corporate partners who help underwrite our programs and activities. We also have a big event September twenty eighth. H thanks. Finally, finally we're getting back to having a I don't want to say because so many galas are kind of boring and stuff. Yeah, not ours, they're fun, but we haven't had one for so many years since pre COVID, so we're really looking forward to that. That's going to be at the Starbarn and again we'll have great entertainment, amazing food, just a fun, fun night, incredible silent auction. I'm so blessed with all the contacts that I have outside of the Central PA area that make that a really fun event for our auctions. So lots of ways you can support us. We offer the CPR training again, you can come, come and attend that. We highly encourage that. But we're gonna we're all over Central PA trying to make a difference, save some lives and make a difference. And you're always welcome to partnerships. You're always looking for sponsorships, partnerships, volunteers. And when you said the kid's going to be a part of the CPR classes, I didn't even know that. Yeah, for sure, anyone can learn CPR, and you like, you don't have to be certified. If someone's in cardiac arrest and they need chess compressions, they don't care if you have a certification card or not. So yeah, my dearly, You've been coming in here for almost well for ten years, and I'm so excited when Julie comes in and I just don't know how you do what you do better. Damn, I'm glad you do, honestly yourself. Every hour, every day, a student dies from sudden cardiac arrests in this country. Please support Julie's mission increase awareness and survival rates. So these kids that you hear about that are falling over on the football field, but it's not all of them. It's kids in general that can pass away quickly from cardiac wrists. So, as I said, the main thing that Julie wants is you don't have to go through the pain and heartache that she did. The Peyton Walker Foundation checking hearts, protecting hearts, and saving lives. Julie, thank you so much, and R remind her to catch Insight on your favorite iHeart station this Sunday or on your favorite podcast app. I'm Sylvia Mows. This has been insight. Thanks so much for listening. See you next week.