X-Message-Number: 7527 Date: 17 Jan 97 17:55:38 EST From: Mike Darwin <> Subject: "Member Down Detectors" I'm extremely happy to see the posts from Joe Strout and Billy Seidel addressing the practical aspects of creating a "member down" system. The system Joe describes is especially interesting as it seems to have excellent sensitivity (and we have an old Mac lying around). BPI also happens to have three clients who need such a system _urgently_. Kennita asked how the system would know if you left your house. I long ago posted an answer to this question and I have given a great deal of thought to several other design features the system should have: 1) The system can "know" if you leave your house in the same way any home security system "knows" when you are gone. You simply have to turn it on when you come home and off when you leave. Anyone with a home security system quickly gets into the habit of doing this. In this case when the member enters the house there is a beeping tone to remind him or her to turn the system on which continues beeping until it IS turned on it (the reverse of the usual situation with intrusion alarms). A second way the system can "know" if you are on the premises is to use a necktag or bracelet with the kind of detector used in retail outlets on expensive items to deter theft with sensors on all entrances/exits to the dwelling. This gets a lot more expensive, but may be justified in the confused, elederly or noncompliant patient. 2) Unlike home security systems where you have to enter a numerical code or use a key to turn it on or off, the member down system can use a large push-plate type on-off switch which is simply pressed upon entering or leaving. 3) The system should have a time-delay relay which sounds a local fairly loud (volume must be adjustable for the hearing impaired!) tone if it detects no motion (i.e., member in arrest) BEFORE it dials out for help. This way, if there IS somebody on the premises they are alerted to the problem first, and if the system has failed or the member has been very quiet longer than expected, s/he can disable the system before the cryonics group is called. 4) Depending on the patient's condition and prognosis the system should be keyed to dial the cryonics organization _first_, or another appropriate local responder. I believe autodialers to 911 are illegal, but the point is, you do not want to activate the EMS for someone who is terminal and thus subject them to a long and unnecessary period of resuscitation/transport and possibly make an ME's case out of them. 5) If Billy Seidel needs infrared motion detectors, time delay relays or any other parts of a security system CALL ME. I've a got a box full of this stuff in working condition, including the master control hardware. I would also note that Radio Shack carries a line of home security products which are ideal for this kind of system as Harara has previously noted. 6) Bed is the second most likely place people are when they experience sudden cardiac death. The #1 place is the toilet. Straining to pass stool results in Valsalva's maneuver which transiently but profoundly descreases myocardial blood flow. Every ME in the world has filing cabinets full of pictures of people dead on the floor next to the commode. Thus, a "bed only system" is of vedry limited utility. I would strongly urge that ALL rooms have motion detectors at a minimum with the bed perhaps being reserved for the most sophisticated monitoring since that is where people are "motionless" for the longest time. Last but not least. I repeat, BPI has two clients who are in urgent need of a system like this. One has been hospitalized with cardiac arrythmias 12 times in the last 2 years. This person is a pioneering cryonicist, and it would be most unfortunate if s/he were not found until several days after cardiac arrest. So, I am ACUTELY interested in seeing this problem solved and I am willing to work with anyone who can solve it SOON. If Joe Strout and Billy Seidel could get in touch with each other, and both of them also get in touch with me, I'd like to see what can be done. BPI and 21st have three staff who live in San Diego and commute to Rancho, so we are down there often. A meeting with Joe Strout would be highly desireable. Also, most of us will be at the Society for Critical Care Medicine Convention in San Diego during some days (but not all) from Feb 4 -10th. That might be a good time to get together. Mike Darwin Finally, Schering-Plough and AVID both have implantable chips which can be placed with a hypodermic needle and syringe assembly.They are FDA licensed for veterinary use only, however I have a physician who will place such a chip in a human in the proper jurisdiction. The advantage of the chip is that it has a unique identifying number allowing it to be used in situations where two or more high risk persons cohabit. It also cannot be removed and this is of nontrivial importance since many elderly people who suffer deep brain strokes will often strip all of their clothing and jewelery off of themselves and wander about naked before they arrest. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=7527