Volunteer as walking scorer for PGA

I have been volunteering at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open here in Vegas for years, I had a PM implanted 3 weeks ago and my concern is for the "Palm Pilot" we carry and the 2-way radio used for communication. I am trying to find out if the EMI and magnetic fields these things emit are strong enough to be a problem.What I am hoping to find here is someone else in this situation. Out of the 1000's of volunteers doing this job my hope is 1or2 have pacemakers as we all do and can answer this question. The next tournament is Oct.18-24. If you can help with this ,Thanks Steelerdave

3 Comments

Thanks TraceyE

by steelerdave - 2010-09-27 09:09:19

Are you a walking scorer too? Your comment answers the Palm Pilot is that true for the 2-way radio as well?

it's ok

by Tracey_E - 2010-09-27 09:09:36

Just don't put it in a pocket directly over your device. It's probably fine even if you do that, it's just a precaution. It's rare for small electronics to interfere, if they do simply keeping them 6" from the device is all we have to do.

radios

by Tracey_E - 2010-09-27 10:09:01

I'm not a walking scorer, but my husband is a radio nut- amateur radios in the house and cars and family radios for when we travel. In 16 yrs of being paced, I've never run into an electronic toy that gave me problems. Phones, ipods, laptops, blackberry, wii, playstation, whatever- we're a family of electronics geeks and probably have one of anything you can name. Some people keep phones and ipods away from their devices just to be on the safe side. Me, I clip my ipod onto my workout top right over where my pm is and hop in the elliptical :o)

If something is going to give you problems, here's what happens (and why I don't worry about it!)... there is a little switch in the device. A magnet will pull it closed and put it in test mode, like when we get it checked. It's still pacing, just not fully functional. As soon as you take the magnet away, the switch opens again and it's working normally again. So, worst case, you'd feel funny and need to get whatever's causing the problem more than 6" away from your pm. It's not going to hurt you or do any damage. Most of the time with most people, it's not even going to have an effect. New pm's are very well shielded.

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You are always wired and full of energy.

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99% of the time, I totally forget I even have this device.