.:: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ::.
Friday August 16th, 2019 - The LV Sportz Foundation, a Southern Nevada 501c3 Nonprofit Charity with a primary focus on keeping Southern Nevada Youth safe while participating in sports, Needs Your Help to Continue and Expand Their Game-Saver Program So They Can Continue to Protect & Save Southern Nevada Youth Athletes from Sudden Cardiac Arrest!
The goal of their Game-Saver Program and related events are to help prevent tragedy from striking our local youth who participate in sports. Tragic events like Sudden Cardiac Arrest/Death, Second Impact Syndrome/CTE, and Heat Stroke are just a few of the real threats to youth who are active in all types of sports and Southern Nevada is no stranger to these tragedies as evident by several cases of each in the past. Nationally, over 300 young athletes die every year nationally from Sudden Cardiac Death alone.
There have been over a dozen publicized and non-publicized incidents of local student athletes collapsing on local playing fields in the past with a few of those resulting in hospitalization or death.
The Foundation’s Game-Saver Program is designed to help combat this issue. The program features:
- Free Youth Sports Physicals with Heart Screenings that feature in-depth physical exams, personal/family history, 12-lead EKG and a 2D Limited Echocardiogram. Two to Three times a year.
- Free to Low-cost C.P.R./A.E.D./First Aid Certifications for Coaches and Team Moms
- Free Student-Athlete/Parent Hands-Only C.P.R. and A.E.D. Awareness & Familiarization with Sports Injury Awareness and Prevention Information
- Free A.E.D. Loaner’s for Youth Sports Organizations (When Available)
- Financial Assistance for Seriously Injured Athletes
- And More!
To help the program continue to be successful and grow they need funds to replace aging screening equipment like EKG machines, Cardiac Ultrasound machines, portable exam tables, and other screening essentials. That equipment can be expensive, real expensive… an EKG machine can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 and a portable Echo machine can cost as much as $10,000 to $20,000.
They have had to also pause the C.P.R. and A.E.D. segment of the program a couple years ago when their main volunteer instructor had to move out-of-town for his career, which also meant their access to the equipment they need like dummies and A.E.D. Trainers was no longer there.
“It’s been hard, real hard to continue these programs but we are staying steadfast in our passion to keep these all important programs going to help protect and save area youth from avoidable tragedy,” said Brian Bartolome, Executive Director and Founder of the LV Sportz Foundation.
They have recently launched an ambitious raffle based fundraising drive that is going on now through the last day of August that includes some awesome donations from local organizations that have been combined into packs for an amazing value. Packs include an Adventure Pack, Date Night Pack, Family Pack, Self-Protection Pack and More.
Sponsors of the drive so far include Sunbuggy, Apocalypse Vegas, David Saxe Productions, Code Ninjas (Centennial Hills), the Hakkasan Group, FlightLinez, Seaquest, Eclipse Theater, Las Vegas Mini Gran Prix, Flip N Out Xtreme, Accentrick Tint, Hollywood Cars Museum, Springs Preserve, Royal Links Golf Club, Refuge Climbing Center, Rex Center, 3 Dot Sight Group, and the Gun School.
Even a couple of the local professional sports teams have stepped in: the Las Vegas Lights FC have provided a gift basket that includes ticket vouchers, a t-shirt and other knick-knacks. The soon to be Las Vegas Raiders have donated some small gift pack that includes a T-shirt, stickers, keychain, etc...
The foundation has also partnered with several of the local youth sports leagues to raffle off registrations. Leagues include the Nevada Youth Football League (NYFL), i9 Sports, National Youth Sports (NYS), South Vegas Girls Softball, Vegas Flag and Girls Youth Basketball.
“What’s unique about our partnership with the local leagues is that in turn for their participation, fifty-percent of monies raised from our Adventure Pack, which is our largest pack in terms of value, will in turn be distributed to our No Youth Athlete Left Behind Registration Assistance program and then distributed evenly among the participating leagues,'' said Bartolome.
He continued, “The participating leagues have agreed that funds received from the Foundation’s No Youth Athlete Left Behind Program will only be used to pay for the registration fee(s) of a child(ren) whose family may not be able to pay the registration fee due to current financial circumstances, it’s really a win-win for everyone involved.”
Even though the drive has already launched they have plans to continue to add to the list of available items should new partners become available.
To help the foundation out and get a chance at some of the awesome prizes, visit their fundraising page at https://go.rallyup.com/lvsportz or you can text 'HeartSaver' to 855-202-2100 to get a link to buy entries.
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About LV Sportz Foundation
The LV Sportz Foundation is a multi-faceted Nevada non-profit whose goal is to help Southern Nevada youth Get in the Game, Enjoy the Game and Stay in the Game! LVSF offers a variety of positive and safe sports programs and information; youth sports registration assistance; free youth sports clinics; youth sports awards; as well as news and announcements on every aspect of youth sports in the Southern Nevada area.
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