Many years ago working in medical equipment maintenance at the QE hospital
Birmingham, I found that the Apnoea monitors we had could detect the beat of
my heart even when I was sat on the sensor.

I have no idea what is on the market at the moment, but you could set limits
for the "rate" of breathing etc. This had an alarm output. You may be able
to adapt something for the purpose. The sensor was only a large plate
capacitor, about 225 square cm.

Best of luck.

        Geoff

G.J.Harbach  I.Eng  MIED  IIPEM
Clinical Technologist
Special Controls Service Manager
West Midlands Rehabilitation Centre
91 Oak Tree Lane, Selly Oak
Birmingham, West Midlands, B92 6JA
Tel 0121  627 1627  Ext. 53238

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        -----Original Message-----
        From:   Friday Marcus (RFF) Medical Physics
[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
        Sent:   07 April 2003 14:02
        To:     [log in to unmask]
        Subject:        Carer Alert

        We've received a referral for a client who will be moving into a
bungalow.
        There will be a carer in the bungalow 24hrs a day. The client can
operate a
        head switch but cannot vocalise.

        There will be one other resident in addition to the carer

        We feel that we need a client-operated alarm system that is more
secure than
        a basic pager.

        Is there anything out there which addresses the following:

        1) Be switch operated to trigger an alarm in the carers room and
possibly
        elsewhere in the bungalow the carer may be. This could be a couple
of
        strategically placed wall mounted alarms and perhaps a pager that
the carer
        wears.

        2) Normally closed connection on input so that the alarm triggers if
the
        switch becomes disconnected.

        3) If the system is wireless there will have to be regular
communication
        between units to ascertain that they are still linked.

        4) Battery failure indication.

        5) The alarm should be sufficient to alert the carer but hopefully
not
        disturb the other resident, particularly at night.

        6) This may be too much to ask, but the client may be unable to
operate the
        switch due to angina or heart attack. Therefore, may need monitoring
so that
        if pulse and oxygen level reduces significantly this will also
trigger the
        alarm as soon as possible. Should this scenario occur the alarm
should
        probably route straight through to the emergency services rather
than the
        carer alone. Even if technically feasible I'm not sue if the
emergency
        services would permit this method.

        At present this appears to me to require a combination of nurse call
system
        and if viable heart rate/oxygen level monitoring.

        The client is adamant that they want to live in the bungalow instead
of
        hospital.

        Marcus.

        Marcus Friday
        Barnsley District General Hospital
        Medical Physics Department
        Gawber Road
        Barnsley
        S75 2EP

        Tel: 01226 730000 x2159