Hello again everyone!
It’s been a few weeks since my last post, but I know Zoe and Ansh have done a fabulous job keeping you up to date and sharing photos from our adventures here in the DR. As I’m writing this post, we’re just finishing up our first month here, and the time has absolutely flown by!
That said, I’m glad to share what we have been up to this past week and some updates on our projects. We started off the week visiting the Hospital Maternidad la Altagracia with Dr. Emin Rivera from UNAPEC. At the hospital, we met with Dr. Kathy Rodriguez, who shared some of the current issues the hospital is facing with the NICU warming beds and heating lamps. Many of the heating lamps were malfunctioning, and only the temperature monitors were in use. As a result, many of the babies were being supplied heat from gooseneck lamps Instead of the overhead lights built into the heating lamps.
Dr. Floren and George had previously told us about these gooseneck lamps and how they are dangerous to the babies , as they can easily cause burns. DOFMI, in conjunction with the manufacturer Johnson, have taken on a project to design new overhead heating lamps with temperature sensors built in. Dr. Kathy Rodriguez also showed us the initial prototype that DOFMI had donated to the hospital, and walked us through the improvements that would need to be made before the lamp could be put to use.
The lamp height would need to be adjusted, and a better temperature monitor installed. Additionally, the bed portion of the design would need walls that could collapse fully for doctors to have easy access to the baby in case of emergency and a greater degree of finishing on some of the nuts and bolts. Dr. Floren is hoping the students at UNAPEC, with the guidance of Dr. Rivera can help design a better temperature sensor for the warming beds.
The next day, we sat in on Dr. Rivera’s class, where the students are working on designing microcontrollers for monitoring different criteria in incubators, such as temperature and humidity. We were very lucky to talk to a few students presenting their proposed projects and plans for the course.
While at UNAPEC we also stopped by the entrepreneurship fair, put on by some of our friends we met at Cemprende last week!
Later in the week, we met with Dr. Rodolfo Soto Ravelo, the chief of pediatric surgery at Los Mina Hospital. After shadowing him on his morning rounds, we sat down to discuss gastroschisis, and current treatment options for babies with gastroschisis at Los Mina. For the past ten years, the doctors at Los Mina have been treating gastroscisis with the ABS Silo bag, designed by pediatric surgeons in Colombia, Brazil and Argentina. The bag is made of polyethylene and an endotracheal tube sutured in a circular shape.
Looking to future weeks, we are hoping to modify our design to perhaps be made of a plastic closer in texture to the polyethylene bag, as Dr. Soto Ravelo warned that the twisting the IV bag could potentially cause damage to the intestines.
While work has been keeping us busy, we had some time this weekend to adventure east to Punta Cana, where we went for a morning swim in Hoyo Claro, before joining a buggy tour with stops at a local coffee and chocolate shop, Playa Macao, a beach with beautifully clear waters, and a cave. Ansh only crashed the buggy two or three times.
On Sunday, we stayed local, and went to the Zona Colonial with some of the students from UNAPEC to grab dinner. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to find a place where they could teach us merengue, but we’re not giving up yet!
Until next time,
Anathea