By Elizabeth Cloutman

JOAN MOSHER/SPECIAL TO THE TOWN CRIER

El Camino therapist may have spared woman from silent killer

A Sunnyvale woman, nearly 80, knew she had not felt “right” for a month. Even though she was already suffering from chronic lung disease and a heart condition, she complained to her respiratory therapist at El Camino Hospital that she was feeling unusually tired and had a chronic headache.

The respiratory therapist, Pam McKinnon, looked at the results of the arterial blood gases test she was conducting on the woman as part of the routine of measuring lung functions. She noticed her patient’s carbon monoxide level was much higher than normal, so much so, it couldn’t be explained by exposure to smog or the two cigarettes the woman said she had smoked that day. McKinnon immediately suspected the woman had a malfunctioning furnace and was suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. The woman confirmed that she had noticed the smell of gas in her kitchen area. Her heater was right outside the bedroom door.

McKinnon had a co-worker call Caesar Molina, the woman’s cardiologist, as she completed the blood test. Molina confirmed her suspicions.

Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas that is emitted from carbon-containing fuels, such as natural gas, gasoline, charcoal, wood and kerosene. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, it is the leading cause of accidental poisoning in the United States. It is responsible for 1,500 deaths and 10,000 medical complaints. Carbon monoxide passes quickly into the blood-stream and attaches itself to hemoglobin in blood cells, which accept it even more readily than oxygen, McKinnon said.

The American Lung Association notes that symptoms of low-level carbon monoxide poisoning include headaches, dizziness, weakness, sleepiness, nausea and vomiting, confusion and disorientation. Heart patients can experience worsening chest pain. McKinnon said symptoms can seem worse in the morning. At high levels, carbon monoxide can render people unconscious and cause them to stop breathing.

McKinnon told the woman she should call Pacific Gas and Electric as soon as she got home. “What I’d already done, we routinely, normally do. Then talking to her, she didn’t seem to have family in the immediate area, I was kind of afraid she might go home and forget. I had the operator call PG&E for her, not knowing they’ll come out immediately if they suspect a gas leak, thinking maybe they’ll be there tomorrow or Monday morning. I was concerned about too much time going by. I (decided) I would call PG&E and start the ticket for her.”

The elderly woman wanted to stay at the hospital laboratory until she felt well enough to drive home. “I told her I would call PG&E in about half an hour (after she left the lab). Then I thought, umm, no, so I told her ‘Call me when you get home,’” McKinnon said.

“When I didn’t hear from her, I started calling her, but her line was busy for the next 15 minutes. When I got through to her, I told her, ‘You stay there. Sit right next to the front door and I’m going to call PG&E.’”

The PG&E employee who had answered McKinnon’s call assured her that if a truck were in the area, it could be at the elderly woman’s home within five minutes. By the time McKinnon called her patient’s home a second time about 45 minutes later, a PG&E service provider had already been to the woman’s home and disconnected the malfunctioning furnace.

McKinnon’s patient soon had the furnace repaired and she is feeling better. The furnace’s malfunction could eventually have caused the woman’s death if McKinnon hadn’t cared enough to intervene by calling PG&E.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends a yearly home inspection by a professional, including a check of furnaces, hot water heaters and stoves. You can purchase carbon monoxide detectors at hardware and home supply stores.

Jeff Smith, a PG&E public relations officer, said customers concerned about gas leaks or carbon monoxide emission may call the company’s 24-hour emergency and customer service line at (800) 743-5000. By choosing a voice-mail option, a customer may reach an operator quickly. There is no charge for a home inspection.