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RE: Alarms at Borders
Hi All,
I have been following this thread with interest. We also have experienced a number of issues with our own workforce. Being a small area, I was able to contact those 3 facilities that administered nuclear medicine treatment and talk to the nuclear medicine technologists. Now we don't have too many surprises.
It seems to me that this is an area where HPS and AAPM can help. I have initiated a discussion with the HPS about trying to "solve" at least this little piece of the problem. We ought to be able to use our two organizations to come up with some type of informational form that nuclear medicine providers could use that can be adopted for use in the US at least. Some type of authentication method would probably have to be developed, but at least it would be a start.
Happy Thursday All,
Linda
Linda Sewell, CHP
Dosimetry Supervisor
Diablo Canyon Power Plant
MS 119/1/122
PO Box 56
Avila Beach, CA 93424
805.545.4315 (voice)
805.545.2618 (fax)
mailto:lms1@pge.com
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
[mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu]On Behalf Of John Jacobus
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 2:24 PM
To: Mccormick, Luke I; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
Subject: Re: Alarms at Borders
Has anyone determined how much this is costing?
--- "Mccormick, Luke I" <luke.mccormick@dhs.gov>
wrote:
>
>
>
>
> Please spread the word. Our Operating Directive
> states that each radiation
> detection at a border will be investigated and
> resolved. Most all Customs
> Officers wear pagers and we use a huge number of
> passive radiation
> detectors in the form of portal monitors, cargo
> scanning devices, etc.
> Everyone who sets off an alarm crossing the border
> is sent to secondary
> until the Officers have determined if they are
> ligitimate.
> Many, but not all nuclear medicine departments are
> providing patients with
> letters explaining that the patients have received a
> radiopharmaceutical
> and if we have questions to call the
> doctor/clinic/hospital.For those
> carrying the documents we simpy verify that the
> office is ligitimate and
> call to verify that the person was a patient there.
> We can identify many of
> the radiopharmaceuticals by thier spectrum on site.
> These people pass
> through pretty quickly. The people who don't have
> the documentation are
> asked for the doctor/clinic name and we do the same
> thing but most do not
> know the phone number of the clinic so they may be
> detained for quite a
> while until we get everything straightened out. If
> you are a patient or
> work at a nuc. med. facility, please make sure that
> the paperwork is given
> to the patients and travel restrictions may cause
> them some delays.
> Luke McCormick
>
> ____________________Reply
> Separator____________________
> Subject: RE: question concerning stress tests
> Author: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
> Date: 1/12/2005 12:28 PM
>
>
>
>
>
> Hal & Phil,
>
> Patients ARE setting off alarms NOW. Happens
> a lot at the
> NY/Canadian border, day trippers coming back.
> I heard one
> instance on the Mexican California border
> near San Diego. So
> far it seems the detectors are set up at
> borders and customs
> stations in airports.
>
>
> Any opinions in this e-mail are solely those
> of the author, and
> are not represented as those of the VA
> Eastern Colorado HCS,
> the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, or the US
> Government.
>
> Peter G. Vernig, Radiation Safety Officer,
> MS-115, VA Eastern
> Colorado Health Care System, 1055 Clermont
> St. Denver, CO
> 80220, peter.vernig@med.va.gov, Phone=
> 303.399.8020 x2447; Fax
> = 303.393.5026, alternate fax, 303.393.5248
>
> "...whatever is true, whatever is noble,
> whatever is lovely,
> whatever is admirable, if anything is found
> to be excellent or
> praiseworthy, let your mind dwell on these
> things."
>
> Paul of Tarsus
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
> [mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu]On
> Behalf Of Careway,
> Harold A. (GE Energy)
> Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 9:30 AM
> To: Radsafe (E-mail)
> Subject: FW: question concerning stress
> tests
>
>
> Phil sent:
>
> Exposures from nuclear stress tests can be
> considerable, at
> least to those of us who have to explain and
> justify every
> last millirem to regulators and activists.
>
> Several years ago I had a stress test and
> made some post
> treatment measurements with a Bicron MicroR
> meter.
>
> Injections of 30 mCi of Tc-99m and 4 mCi of
> Tl-201 result in a
> cumulative dose of ~600 mrem. Seven (7)
> hours after
> treatment, the exposure rate was 17 mR/hr in
> contact with the
> stomach and 20 microR/hr (twice background)
> at 30 feet.
> Exposure rate at stomach level after 2 days
> was ~2 mR/hr, and
> after 7 days was ~0.5 mR/hr. After 3
> weeks, exposure rates
> were indistinquishable from background.
>
> Yes, at those levels, a lot of patients are
> going to be
> setting of the increasing number of post 9/11
> radiation
> monitors in airports, borders, etc.
>
> See
> http://www.philrutherford.com/Stress_Test_2003.pdf
> for
> charts of exposure vs. distance and time.
>
> Interestingly enough, when I asked the
> nuclear technician who
> administered the radiopharmaceuticals, how
> much exposure I
> would receive, he said "Oh, about the same as
> a chest X-ray
> (~10 mrem)." I do not know whether that was
> simple ignorance
> or deliberate misinformation.
>
> Phil
>
>
>
---------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------------
>
> I had the same experience when I went for my
> Cardolite test -
> the technician was able to tell me the
> activity dose I was
> receiving (30 mCi of Tc-99m) but not my
> whole body or
> effective dose in mR or mSv. It was like he
> never heard of
> such a thing and really made me angry.
> Latter I estimated
> that between the two doses I received (1PM
> in the afternoon
> and a second dose at 8AM the next morning) I
> picked up
> somewhere between 1600-1800 mR integrated.
>
> I continued to register above background on
> my Xetex 308A
> until three days after the procedure and the
> first day I could
> set the detector off from 15 feet outside my
> office, what fun.
>
>
> Hal Careway
>
>
>
> .
>
>
>
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=====
+++++++++++++++++++
"It doesn't matter whether you're riding an elephant or a donkey if you're going in the wrong direction."
Jesse Jackson
-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail: crispy_bird@yahoo.com
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