Management Advisory Board

Rhonda L. Foster, R.N.

Founder and Project Director, Take It To Heart™: A Project of The Foundation For Enhancing Communities

Rhonda L. Foster is a Registered Nurse with extensive cardiac care experience. “I never dreamed that my child might have a heart problem. We had no family history of heart problems at an early age or sudden death, and through the years I was always told by medical professionals that my children were healthy. In 2002, at the age of 15, my precious daughter, Janna, passed in her sleep from an undetected electrical heart problem called Long QT Syndrome.” In 2003, Ms. Foster testified before the Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy Committee in pursuit of a bill which would mandate that an electrocardiogram read by a cardiologist be required for every child entering the 9th grade, just as vaccinations, dental exams, eye exams, and hearing tests are included at certain ages, and states that “No one can tell if a heart is healthy just by listening with a stethoscope!”

Since her daughter’s passing, Ms. Foster founded Take It To Heart™, a program with two components to help prevent the sudden cardiac death of youth: 1) education and awareness, and 2) promoting, supporting and facilitating heart screenings for youth which include an electrocardiogram read by a cardiologist. She has spoken at many conferences for hundreds of school and pediatric nurses in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Maryland and is published in the Advance for Nurses Magazine. Ms. Foster has successfully facilitated heart screenings for youth in Harrisburg, PA which have included electrocardiograms read by a cardiologist.

Ms. Foster is a member of Parent Heart Watch, as well as the Pennsylvania Cardiovascular Health Consortium which was initiated in 2002 to develop a guide for improving the cardiovascular health of all Pennsylvanians and includes over 100 leaders in the fields of public health and cardiovascular disease prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. In 2006, Cardiovascular Health: Pennsylvania’s Blueprint for Action was published as a working document and long-term plan.  Ms. Foster hopes to be a voice for youth in Pennsylvania by creating awareness, educating, and promoting heart screenings which include an electrocardiogram read by a cardiologist.

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“I am honored to be a Management Advisory Board Member of a company that has the potential to help save so many young people’s lives and I thank HeartScreen America, Inc. for this opportunity.”

- Rhonda L. Foster, R.N.
Take It To Heart™