Hello from California, and a sad story

[33plycoupe]

Carla,
   Sorry to hear of your loss. We never forget our loved ones that pass, but we have the memories to sustain us. 73's AR AR (._ ._. )
N9SGQ
DE Bob from Indiana (Also familiar with SK ... _._ )

[CHS]

Carla,
Sorry to hear of your loss. This is why I always say make the most of each day. We all know we are going to pass one day, we just don't know when that day will be.
I also lost a partner. I thought my world had come to an end, then one day I said I have to get out and enjoy life. You never forget them and you always have the great memories you shared.
I hope your story can save a life so others don't have to go thru what you are going thru.

[MRR41 COUPE]

My heart goes out to you.
Mike

[Go Fleiter]

Dear Carla,

  my condolescences for this very bad accident happening to You!

Hope You will  find comfort with Your friends and nighbourhood and recover your soul!

All the best from D?sseldorf! Go

[36 Ply]

Carla,

That's very sad. Sorry for your loss, and thanks for the warning.

Regards, and wishing you good things in the future,

Pat O'Connor

[Carla]

Hello, Plymouth people,

You've not seen me for awhile here, but I really do mean to keep 'in touch' and offer bits of technical trivia when I can....

My (its no longer 'our', unfortunately) '34 PE is a bit of a dormant project at the moment, but I should have it back together and running this summer sometime, if all goes well.

I've a sad story to tell, and with a caution to those of you, if any, who have to have heart pacemakers, or have a friend or family member who does.

My partner Patricia (actually 'spouse' here in California) passed away from a pacemaker failure, earlier this month. She had been in really good health aside from her heart issue, which required a pacemaker.

As to the caution.......we had been carefully warned by the cardiologist, and the mfgr's rep for the device, that any 'EMP' or 'electro-magnetic pulse', even of a very low-order magnitude, could cause her pacemaker to malfunction, if at close range.

Such an EMP pulse, of very low magnitude, is generated when any electrical spark occurs, such as the 'make' or 'break' of 115 or 230V switchgear, other than in a 'shielded' or 'enclosed and grounded' device. This presents no danger to people generally, of course, and generally no danger to pacemaker users unless they are quite close to the source of the EMP pulse, as was the case in this tragedy..

In this case, we went to attend a social event at a newly-opened coffeehouse in San Francisco, where, apparently, they were using some older equipment, and were not aware of the danger to pacemaker users, hence they had no 'pacemaker danger area' placards.

Its theoretically true that her pacemaker might have had an internal failure unrelated to any external influence, and, since the EMT responders attempted to shock her heart to revive her, an inspection of the pacemaker itself would almost certainly  be meaningless (altho the mortuary firm will be sending me the pacemaker device, which I shall take to the cardiologist for inspection, just as a necessary formality). Because its theoretically possible that the failure may have been intrinsic within the device, I can't sue the owners of the venue for having a 'dangerous condition'.

So.....the 'moral of the story;.......apparently, the exceedingly minimal spark caused when turning a common light switch on or off isn't enough to cause a sufficiently high-order EMP pulse to affect a pacemaker, but the higher-amperage switching of commercial restaurant equipment can be, but only if the victim is within a few feet of the equipment, as happened.

(the cardiologist told us that 20 feet distance from any electrical arc should be safe, as the EMP pulse degrades rapidly with distance, so, for example, I make very certain that she was at the front of the house, over sixty feet away, and stayed there, when I did any welding or was running any of the older non-OSHA grade machine tools.)

As a generality, any commercial establishment open to the public has to have their electrical equipment suitably 'OSHA-safe' or post 'pacemaker danger area' placards.

As we've seen, this may not be the case, sometimes, so, its prudent for someone who hasn't a pacemaker to check an unfamiliar area first......its just too easy to 'assume' that any business open to the public has met the OSHA specs as a 'matter of course'.

Patricia Elaine Gibbons WA6UBE (SK) also Army MARS AAR9JA 1948-2010 Pro Patria Mori

sadly

Carla