Space Technology Improves Heart Pacemaker (1974)

[Music] [Applause] being out of water [Music] this is 3 and one2 year-old Jennifer gasio since July 1973 Jennifer has been using a unique rechargeable pacemaker to increase her heart rate from slow to near normal she joined some 60,000 other Americans who have heart pacemakers implanted every year developed by John's Hopkins University Applied Physics laboratory the pacemaker makes use of power cells originally used aboard satellites in space it is half the thickness and 1/3 the volume of earlier models and can be painlessly recharged from outside the body for 20 years this eliminates the need for surgery every 2 years to remove and replace batteries Mrs Kathleen Gario tells what the new device has meant to her daughter Jennifer it's meant a lot because since Jennifer's had the pacemaker there's been a complete change in her she's grown in size she's acting very normal where before she really couldn't play or keep up with the other children it also means a great deal to us knowing that she doesn't have to be operated on every 2 years and also the size of it that it's small enough for her the other pacemakers were quite large what the pacemaker does is send an electrical impulse to the heart speeding up Jennifer's heartbeat from a slow rate of 40 to a normal 72 beats a minute and normal she is she does nearly everything a healthy youngster can do and especially enjoys playing with her Brothers cousins and friends I want the comment what to the com go over her routine is different for only 90 minutes a week when she recharges the pacemaker batteries pacemaker charger is very simple it's convenient enough to carry you can take it anywhere necessary to charge her it's also very good if we were on a week's vacation we wouldn't have to take it with us if you miss a week you can catch up on it but there' be no harm to Jennifer if we should not do [Music] it that alarm means that the charging head is not meeting up it lets us know that it's not charging when it's stops the green light goes on and that means that she's being charged and when the whole charging period is finished a blue light goes on and let us know that it's the end of the charge this means that she's charged for another week we won't have to do it until next week we asked Mrs gasio about the outlook for Jennifer's future the outlook for Jennifer's future is very good the doctors say that she can live to be a ripe old age and she could grow up to to be anything she wants to be the basic concept for the long life battery in Jennifer's pacemaker has been proven in over 10 years of space use a good example of technology for space now being used to help people this has been an Aeronautics and Space report presented by NASA the National Aeronautics and Space Administration