A Matter of Heart
January 17, 2008
Mike Trudell,
Wolves.com
When Ryan Gomes was starring at Providence College, a tragedy happened to an acquaintance who played in the same AAU program in Connecticut. A young man who was training on the track at Morgan State University before practice started collapsed suddenly and died of heart failure.
Gomes' AAU coach was very close to the victim and his family, so the two came up with "Hoops for Heart Health," which focuses on providing automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to communities and organizations in need.
With the help of the Parent Heart Watch and the FastBreak Foundation, Gomes was in north Minneapolis on Wednesday to donate an AED to the Farview Recreation Center, preceding a basketball clinic put on by Wolves youth basketball coordinator Todd Landrum with Gomes's assistance.
"My goal is just to raise awareness," said Gomes. "It started back in Connecticut, and I'm trying to expand that to other cities. I've had great help from Parent Heart Watch and Cardiac Science to get this word out."
That Gomes and the FastBreak Foundation chose Farview was of particular significance because during adult basketball five years ago, a former Minneapolis North High man passed away due to a heart ailment, a traumatic experience for the community. With the AED, used to restore normal heart rhythm to patients in cardiac arrest, Gomes and his partners aim to prevent something like that from happening in the future.
"To have a defibrillator on hand to prevent (an incident) is wonderful," said Farview Park director Paul Jeager, also elated to have Gomes around the kids. "It's always wonderful because the kids do emulate professional players so much when they take the time to come back (into the community).
"The goal for next season is to get to the cities we didn't get to this season," said Gomes. "Hopefully it can continue to grow. If these words touch anybody in each place we go, it can help. "We want to bring awareness to them and let them know that people are worried, people are concerned about the things that go on in the world."
On hand to present the AED to the gathered community members was Wolves radio color man Billy McKinney, who then gave way to Gomes to explain to the kids why AEDs were so important. Subsequently, Landrum took the floor and began to run the kids through basketball drills.
"To put smiles on these kids' faces and just to be around an NBA player for a different type of reason (is great)," concluded Gomes. "We show them what types of things we do in the community also. We want to help them out in any way we can, because it's not every day they get to see an NBA player in the gymnasium that they practice in every day."
Each kid and several communities also received tickets to a future game, posters, bookmarks and stickers.
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