[ RadSafe ] Deadly embrace: NRC policy can exposechildrento radioactivity, by retired........

[Conklin, Al (DOH)]

You have to realize what little radiation knowledge is really out there.
They realized they were wrong when they found they were dealing with
mostly little old ladies or other folks who weren't feeling too well.
Fortunately, before they over reacted too much, they would call us and
we could straighten it out quickly. Since the over reactions, we have
been able to train those who carry the pagers and we haven't had any
mishaps since (that I've heard of).
One of our mishaps involved a pager going off at the rear of a car at a
ferry landing. They thought there was radioactive material in the trunk
and pulled the car out of line and tore it apart looking for the
material. They collected a spectrum and sent it back to the National
Labs (Reachback). Turns out it was an iodine patient in the car behind
that one.
 

Al Conklin 
Lead Trainer and Health Physicist 
Radiological Emergency Preparedness Section 
Office of Radiation Protection 
Department of Health 
office: 360-236-3261 
cell: 360-239-1237 

 

________________________________

From: Steven Dapra [mailto:sjd at swcp.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 5:54 PM
To: Conklin, Al (DOH); Philip Egidi; Daren Perrero; radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] Deadly embrace: NRC policy can exposechildrento
radioactivity, by retired........


        What a brainless assumption.  Did they manage to change their
minds after the patient threw up on them?

Steven Dapra


At 10:04 AM 1/6/09 -0800, Conklin, Al  (DOH) wrote:


	Concerning patients following instructions, they are also told
to avoid
	public transit for a period of time, but our law enforcement
officers
	who carry the personal radiation detectors (PRDs)in Washington
State
	routinely get hits on our ferries and around other public
	transportation. The first few times it happened, they assumed
these
	folks might be terrorists, and responded accordingly before we
got them
	to calm down the responses.
	
	
	Al Conklin
	Lead Trainer and Health Physicist
	Radiological Emergency Preparedness Section
	Office of Radiation Protection
	Department of Health
	office: 360-236-3261
	cell: 360-239-1237


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