ID card helps travelers with medical devices

The prostheses that some breast cancer survivors wear are detected by airport Transportation Security Administration body scanners when previously-used metal detectors did not.
The cards are similar to those ID cards used for pacemakers and other prosthesis, but are meant specifically for breast cancer prosthesis and to provide a discreet explanation to the security officials.

Electra Paskett, associate director for population sciences at OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital, and a breast cancer survivor, said her experiences with the TSA body scanners left her outraged.

“When going through airport security I was pulled aside and asked if security could pat my chest down. I explained to them that I was wearing prosthesis. They told me they would still have to pat me down. I asked that they do it in private. They did, and then completed their check for explosives. The procedure was very uncomfortable. I thought that they should be able to tell the difference between what is dangerous and what is not,” Paskett said.

Paskett was also concerned for others who go through the same situation.
“I thought that the whole process was very rude. People around you know what’s going on,” Paskett said. “It can be hard for women who are sensitive about explaining their situation in a public place and to strangers.

Now, she has found a solution that restores some of her dignity. She carries a special card to inform TSA guards of the location of her prosthesis. “I don’t have to say it out loud anymore in front of other people,” she says. “I’m more at ease.”

The TSA developed a card last year that can be downloaded, but Paskett found it to be “cold and kind of ugly,” she stated. She teamed up on a design with Vera Garofalo, manager of Hope’s Boutique, a shop at Ohio State ‘s James Cancer Hospital that sells clothing for people with cancer. “This card is not intended to excuse anyone from those security screenings. It simply allows women and agents to communicate more discretely,” says Paskett.

For more information about obtaining a breast prosthesis identification card, contact Hope’s Boutique, 614-293-9393

Adapted from: http://www.oandp.com/articles/NEWS_2011-10-25_01.asp

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