First Day First!

 Sweet and satisfied smiles after enjoying pineapple pies, muffins, and rolls for appetizer. Thank you to Dr.P. who brought desserts and the San Martin orange muffins! 

   What is the best way to start our first day in Guatemala? Sleep in? Brunch? Yes! On our way to brunch, we witnessed our first Guatemalan animal rights parade. Marching bands filled the air with their colorful music! After waiting patiently for a few minutes at the restaurant, San Martin, we were able to sit down and get overwhelmed by the variety of food options. Everyone enjoyed their breakfast and conversations with each other.
   Later after brunch, we had the pleasure to enjoy a relaxing walk along with some dog lovers and runners along the city road. The Guatemala City is decorated with natural greenness and historical beauty. The central square, east of the Cathedral of Guatemala City and west of the Royal Palace,  surprised us with its rich culture content, from traditional Guatemalan clothing to folk art performances.

Dr. P. , Lydia, Quinn, and many others cheer with colorful smoothies!

Brunch at San Martins! We all needed the energy for some real work at the Moore Center this afternoon. 

  After a tour of Guatemala city, we went to the Moore Center! All the skills we acquired this semester were ready for action!

  Earlier in the semester we were assigned biomedical equipment that needed to be fixed at the Moore Center, Hospital Infantil de Juan Pablo II, Hospital Nacional de Palin and Obras Sociales del Hermano. Given a few notes and pictures of the equipment, we tackled the task of identifying the issues and resolving them. Meredith was successfully able to make an otherwise incomplete ventilator, complete.  The ventilator was finally functional with her diligence to find the appropriate oxygen saturation cable.

 

Meredith troubleshoots cable replacement

  Similarly, Jasmine was assigned to fix an otoscope, one of the handles on the otoscope did not produce light. After much research she concluded that it should be replaced. With a donation from Project C.U.R.E., Jasmine was able to deliver a completely functional otoscope to Señor Henry, the medical engineer at the Moore Center. Later this week Jasmine also plans to assess the partially functional otoscope in the hope of fixing it!

Jasmine checks the functionality of the otoscope before giving it to Senor Henry

While on site Señor Henry asked if we could take a look at a partially functioning blood pressure monitor and an anesthesia instrument. The blood pressure cuff could inflate appropriately but could not acquire the correct measurements, the monitor would report "air leakage." Claire, Alison, Joe, Dr. P., and Professor Adams raised to the challenge and determined that only the "adult" settings, as opposed to the "infant" and "children" settings, were not working properly. After further troubleshooting, they concluded that the blood pressure unit was the issue. The unit was disassembled, and it was identified that a quick epoxy fix could resolve the issue. We will have to wait until tomorrow to see if it works!
Also, Professor Adams and Linus investigated the malfunctioning alarm feature on an anesthesia instrument. 

Claire, Alison, Lydia and Dr. P look to see the issue with the blood pressure unit.

Linus and Professor Adams troubleshoot an anesthesia instrument 

Please allow us to brag a little about our team members:

-To Linus who nailed his first day of people wrangling.

-To Sami and Cassie for the beautiful photos in the blog.

-To Claire who set up all the cell phones for communication. 

-To Quinn who successfully delivered heartwarming gifts to Cecilia. 

-To Alison who organized all the tools we needed for equipment fixing.

-To Joe who provided safety and health to everyone (distributed hand sanitizers)

-To Joanna and Jasmine who continues to update the blog. 

-To Dr. P. and Dr. Adams who took care of all the ordering and menu translation at the restaurants.

Way to go everybody!!:)