OK to be wanded

Ok I've had my PM a year this past September. I went to the courthouse today. They had the walkthrough thing. Hadn't had to do this and couldn't remember what I had read about it  So I told the three policemen that I had a PM. They instructed me to walk around and said they would wand me. I was pretty sure I had read on here we weren't supposed to do that. One of the police said if I didn't do that they would have to pat me down. I said, " Well do what you have to do, but I'm not being wanded."  I said the PM was pretty new to me and I just haven't come across this before. The policeman was a little off put that he hadn't convinced me and turned to the other policeman and said I'll leave it up to you. This one said they would only wand me waist down and that they had done it many times to others older than me. So I agreed to let them waist down. Am I wrong?

4 Comments

wands

by Tracey_E - 2018-03-05 21:55:47

Wand is the same technology as the metal detector but more concentrated, so you are correct to be more wary of the wand than the metal detector. Waist down is fine, just keep it more than 6" from the device. However, I never trust them to keep it far enough away so ask for a patdown.

That said, newer pacemakers are well shielded so wands and metal detectors are both ok. I walk on through now, no issues. 

Thanks

by grilor - 2018-03-05 22:08:24

Thanks Tracey. But I think I'd be afraid to try it. But he barely did anything at all. I think one swipe down from my waist. I think I scared him.

Wands

by LondonAndy - 2018-03-06 02:37:13

I usually just go through the metal detector arch at airports and secure buildings, and have no ill effects despite being 100% paced.  However, last October I was entering a secure zone, and purely because I had lost weight and was trying to avoid having to take my belt off because of the chunky metal buckle, leaving me at risk of providing a good laugh to the queue as my trousers fell to the floor if I wasn't careful, I opted for the wand treatment.  It was a temporary secure zone and I think they had recruited new security guys, and I got one who had not done a wand search before.  He went over my PM, and I heard a loud 'metal detector' type beep as my device was picked up.  But there were no ill effects. 

However, Tracey is right: a supervisor saw this happen, shook his head in dismay and apologised to me as I collected my belongings from the x-ray machine.  He then had words with the new guy clearly to the effect that he should not have put the wand directly over my device.

My device is about 3.5 years old and MRI conditioned. 

kids with wands

by Tracey_E - 2018-03-06 10:34:04

The number one reason I've started walking through metal detectors is because if you are annywhere but at the airport, they have little training and are generally clueless about what wands can do to a pacemaker. With my old pacers it was a concern and I had been told not to walk through so my approach was scaring them. "If you get that wand near my pacemaker you will TURN IT OFF" Ok, bit of an exaggeration, but it got their attention lol.  Now with my newest one, both my doc and St Judes rep said it's perfectly safe to walk through the detectors which avoids the wands altogether. I've gone through them at courthouses, concerts, cruise ships, theme parks, no problems. 

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