We were lucky to catch up with Ashley Beadles recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Ashley, thanks for joining us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?
The moment that changed my trajectory was when I started volunteering with the John Stewart Foundation while I attended college to actually study criminal justice in hopes of becoming a police officer. I was working at The Indiana Heart Hospital greeting guests at the front door and eventually I transferred to one of the cardiologist’s office in the same hospital, doing check in and out for their patients. During that time, I began volunteering for the foundation. John’s mom, Felicia Stewart, started the foundation after he suddenly collapsed during a Friday night basketball game and suffered Sudden Cardiac Arrest. John Stewart was 17 years old. There in front of the high school crowd, John died from an enlarged heart. Felicia started the foundation in his honor to prevent other families from experiencing her same pain and loss. The Cardiac Sonographers in the same practice I worked for, volunteered to do her Echoes (ultrasounds of the heart) for her foundation while I did check in for the events. We traveled to local high schools to perform Echoes for athletes to rule out Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, a condition that can lead to Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Since changing course in my career, I started my nonprofit and have opened a clinic to make screenings available to families who can’t make it to the weekend events.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
My name is Ashley Beadles and I am a mom to my 15 year old son, Camdyn. I have been a cardiac sonographer for 8 years now. I graduated from Ivy Tech with a General Studies degree, learned Echocardiography through on the job training and continue to work full time at Community Hospital Anderson. My path to success was not an easy one but it was a needed one. I feel truly blessed to be where I’m at in life and grateful for the ability to run a nonprofit that helps our youth. When I reflect on how I got to where I am today I attribute it to being around a group of individuals with the John Stewart Foundation, who were making an impact on our community which inspired me to consider a different career path outside of criminal justice. Between consistently around ultrasound and volunteering for the foundation, I told myself if I ever got an opportunity to learn echo, I’d give back in the same capacity. Back then that was a far reach for me because in the mean time I became a single mom at a young age and was struggling to make ends meet. However, someone had a different plan for me than pursuing criminal justice and I seized an opportunity to be trained in Echocardiography. A few months after passing my registry I met Dr. Preetham Jetty, a cardiologist with Community Hospital Anderson, who shared the same passion for preventing SCA in teens and he agreed to voluntarily read all of the studies. We organized a screening at Shoot360, a basketball facility in Indianapolis which was our first screening and we found a Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy in a 15 year old athlete. His condition had gone undiagnosed and the family was unaware of his congenital abnormality. We saved his life and prevented his family from experiencing the potential heartache of suddenly losing their son. I was overwhelmed with emotions but I knew then and there I was doing what I was put on this earth to do. One of my dear friends, Kia suggested I start my own nonprofit and after some initial hesitation, I founded Play Heart Smart. I, along with volunteers and parents who have lost their children to SCA, make these screenings convenient for families. We provide kids, ages 10-20 years old, with lifesaving tests for a reduced cost. All of the kids that have succumbed to SCA, have had annual sports physicals on file but yet they died during their sport, or in their sleep after their sport. EKG and Echo are not mandatory tests for kids to play sports in schools. So our mission is to eventually make them a part of the athletic work up. To date, we have screened over 3,000 kids and caught numerous abnormalities that had gone undiagnosed. In the last two years Indianapolis alone, has had two high school students pass away from SCA while playing their sport. While we recognize we may not be able to reach all teenagers, we strive to bring awareness around Sudden Cardiac Arrest while providing the screenings to as many kids as possible. Life has a funny way of working out and I’m honored to be serving the community in a different way than what I had originally set out to do.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
When I started Play Heart Smart I held this belief that I shouldn’t ask anyone for money to help bring this to fruition. I truly believed my services weren’t worthy of asking for parents to pay for the screenings, ask for sponsors, or ask for donations. I think a part of that stemmed from imposter syndrome. I had never run a nonprofit before and felt like I was in over my head. I quickly realized it took money to run such an organization, especially if I wanted to make it successful. So after talking with Dr. Jetty and those closest with me about my insecurity around asking for financial help, I started charging a small fee for each child screened and I held fundraisers. After I realized other people believed in the services I was offering, I worked up the courage to write a letter to the hospital I work for, asking for their sponsorship. They quickly responded with excitement and wanted me to meet with the CEO, CFO and head of advertising. I was a nervous wreck. I had to go into this meeting with absolute confidence in myself and confidence in my mission of Play Heart Smart. I truly believed in what I had to offer, but would they believe me? Turns out, they did and still do. They’re still one of my most valued sponsors. There were a lot of beliefs that have been and continue to be unraveled, but the biggest belief that has changed for me, is the belief in myself and what I have to offer. Believe in the difference you can make and others will too.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
I technically run Play Heart Smart on my own however, it would not be where it is today if it wasn’t for Teresa Mago. She is Zac Mago’s mom and runs Zac Mago Foundation. She suddenly lost Zac one week before he turned 18, while he was sleeping. It was an unknown, fatal heart condition. Zac passed away in 2018 and Teresa knew she wanted to make sure no other family had to endure the same heartache that she and her family members had endured. Fast forward to December 2019 when I founded Play Heart Smart, Teresa immediately called me after I officially held a screening under PHS. We talked about what she was going through, we cried over the sudden loss of Zac’s life, and we created a plan to start holding monthly ‘Keeping the Beat Saturdays’ in Walkerton, Indiana. Every first Saturday of the month we hold public screenings for a minimal cost, making sure everyone teenagers receive an EKG and Echocardiogram, all read by Dr. Jetty. Holding these screenings allowed me to see how I could evolve the events I was holding for the Indianapolis community. Teresa helped me get a more professional setup with privacy tents, better EKG machines, and additional ultrasound probes for easier reading capabilities for Dr. Jetty. This led to a consistent turn out of students willing to be screened. She gave me exposure but more than that, she gave me purpose. Seeing the impact of the services I was able to bring to her community, to help her give back in Zac’s honor, solidified my work’s purpose. I know this is what I was put on this earth to do but without a doubt, I owe Play Heart Smart’s success, setup, exposure, and purpose to Teresa Mago and all the volunteers. I could not do this alone and I will forever be grateful for all who have helped us reach so many kids over the years.
Contact Info:
- Website: Playheartsmart.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playheartsmart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Playheartsmart