200 young Dumfries people to receive free heart screenings
There are multiple events scheduled for this year across Dumfries and Galloway.
Last updated 15th Apr 2025
A charity promoting cardiac arrest prevention is hosting the first of many free heart screenings in Dumfries over the weekend for 200 young people in the town.
People aged between 14 and 25 years old will be taking advantage of meeting with a consultant cardiologist at the Cairndale Hotel and getting test results.
This has cost just over £13,500 of funding to put on.
Representative of the Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) Charity Rodger Hill is hoping this will act as a prompt for the government to make screening a national policy.
Hill lost his son David in a parliamentary rugby game a few years ago and has been campaigning effortlessly since to help protect the lives of young people.
Rodger gives us an insight into what will be happening tomorrow:
“This weekend, we will be screening 200 young people aged from 14 to 35. It’s a free offering of an ECG and if further is required, then there is an echocardiogram, and all people will see a consultant cardiologist.
“That takes about £13,500 worth of funding to bring that here, but we’re committed as a family to provide screening to Dumfries and Galloway. We have 200 screenings this weekend, 200 in June in Kirkcudbright, and another 200 in September back in Dumfries.
“After this, we’re hoping that there will be greater awareness. The demand for places has been exceptional, it’s been quite considerable, and we are looking to provide more screening, but also to impact on national policy.”