Another beautiful morning in Guatemala started with a morning run for a few of us, then breakfast in Casa de Angel Hotel with preparation and discussion for the day over pancakes!
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| Exhausted but happy at the top of the hill on the morning run |
We wove through the busy streets of Guatemala City in our big beige bus back to Juan Pablo II where we worked for the first half of the day. We finished up the medical equipment we had left from yesterday, then presented our results to the hospital administration. We sorted through 33 pieces of equipment and were able to fix, calibrate, or test 23 devices that will now be operational for the hospital.
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Stephanie presents our finished monitors
to hospital administration |
Antonio picked up where he left off on Monday, trying to test and potentially repair the 7 “defective” ECG units. None of the units had leads to connect to the electrodes on a patient’s body, so Antonio, with the aid of Noah and Cerie, made makeshift electrodes using stranded wires that wound around the ECG module and were delicately embedded in gel electrodes. This initial design worked and produced a functional ECG when placed on the body; however, the group quickly developed a better prototype by winding solid core wire around solder wire to form a solenoid-like wire that could quickly slide on and off of the ECG modules. This design allowed the team, now aided by Hunter, Rhett, Michael and Stephanie, to rapidly test the functionality of the remaining ECG systems. The group assessed the different leads of the ECG units, the printing capability, and the general settings. The team was able to recommend much-needed accessories, clean and inventory the modules, and confirm that many of the previously “defective” ECG modules were functional with minimal limitations. The collaboration during this endeavor is what enabled its success and epitomized what it means to be engineers in the field--solving problems through communication and teamwork.
After leaving Juan Pablo II, we stopped at INCAN Cancer Hospital to meet with leadership, learn about the hospital’s mission, and look at some of the devices in the labs. INCAN is the only nonprofit hospital providing cancer care in Guatemala. We were inspired by INCAN’s work to provide care to cancer patients despite limited and occasional lack of funding. We met with INCAN leadership and Dr. Carlos Esquit from Universidad del Valle, hopefully establishing connections for future collaboration between these two admirable institutions.
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| Rhett, Aidan, and Christia present at Universidad del Valle |
Our next stop for the day was Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG) where Prof. Carlos Esquit described the many great things that they do in engineering there. Guatemala's first satellite was developed at UVG and is about to be launched this Friday. Two of Prof. Esquit's engineering teams presented their projects, one of which involved printing 3D models of hearts defined by segmented cardiac CT images and the other involved integrated circuit design. Dr. P. described Vanderbilt and the School of Engineering, encouraging UVG students to consider VU for graduate school. Then Christia Victoriano described her research about a point-of-care low flu diagnostic tool for low resource settings, Rhett Britton presented his microfluidic device to support a cancer-organoid for testing chemotherapeutics, and Aidan Pace described his work with Engineering World Health.
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| Rhett and Noah conversing with Universidad del Valle students |
While our three students showed Vanderbilt academics in the strongest of lights, the rest of the students had the opportunity to mingle with the Guatemalan students and leave a unique impression on the individual level. However, none mingled quite as uniquely as Rhett and Noah. The two bee-lined straight for the back of the lecture hall where “all the rowdy students must be.” They immediately made friends with a group of students despite their broken Spanish. Noah quickly proceeded to become the loudest individual in the room, and Rhett’s witty sarcasm had everyone rolling on the floor in a few short exchanges. Whether it was talking to the students about classes where neither group understood a lick of the other group's technical terms or requesting a Spanish translation of “Aidan is a hunk of a man,” the two of them had a wonderful time laughing with the local students. This exchange culminated when Rhett finished giving a presentation and Noah stood up to ask a question in front of the whole group. Noah, intending to tell Rhett what a good job he did, tried to tell him how handsome he looked up on stage. Unfortunately, a stray dog has a better grasp of the Spanish language, and he accidentally told the whole lecture hall that he himself was very handsome. This of course elicited a roar of laughter which was completely lost on him. When he sat back down, the girl next to him leaned over and asked if all Americans “had as much energy as our group.” To which he replied, “no that’s kinda just me.” He then proceeded to consume half of the free buffet.
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| Antonio talking with Universidad del Valle students |
We ended the day with a satisfying dinner and turned in late. Tomorrow we will be on to Antigua to work with Obras Sociales del Hermano Pedro!
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| Anticipating the arrival of the other half of our dinner |
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