Weston Reed Foundation to Offer Free Physicals for Youth

TUPELO, Miss.—Area students in grade 6 or above are encouraged to take advantage of free physicals offered by the Weston Reed Foundation from 8-11:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 4, at the Children’s of Mississippi specialty clinic, located at 240 Service Drive, Building 2, Suite D.

The clinic is part of Journal Business Park at 1150 South Green Street.

No appointment is necessary. The Weston Reed Foundation will also provide a free electrocardiogram (EKG), and students will receive a free Weston Reed Foundation T-shirt. If warranted, an echocardiogram will also be performed free of charge.

Eleven-year-old Weston Reed experienced sudden cardiac death on Aug. 16, 2007, while practicing soccer at Ballard Park. Although several physicians who were at the soccer field administered CPR within seconds, Reed could not be saved. Unfortunately, there was not immediate access to an AED, a device used to shock the heart back into rhythm. While an AED may not have saved his life, rapid access to these devices saves many lives yearly.

Since its inception in 2007, the Weston Reed Foundation has placed more than 100 AEDs in Tupelo schools, Parks and Recreation sites, police and sheriff's department patrol cars, churches and other public venues in northeast Mississippi.

Donations to help provide training and AEDs are tax deductible and can be made to the Weston Reed Foundation and mailed to CREATE Foundation, P.O. Box 1053, Tupelo, MS 38802.