Last Week!

So this whole entire trip has been quite an adventure. First we spend a month in Costa Rica learning Spanish and Engineering. Then we practice what we learned in Nicaragua at our hospital in Jinotepe. Along the way, we have seen many tourist spots ranging from Monte Verde to Ometepe Island. The work though has been very fulfilling. Our total count includes that of fixing 32 machines over these 4 weeks. We have probably put $15,000 worth of medical equipment back into service. The hospital seemed very appreciative, and we were just glad to help. When the doctors here are so good, they need the help to accompany their great service. I feel as if Nicaragua has the bright minds to accomplish what it wants but it is being held back by bureaucracy. Overall, I feel that a lot has been accomplished over these two months and I am sad to leave this place. I am very sure next year´s group will have a great time. And so, for the last time....signing out from Nicaragua...Manu

Week 3

So, week 3 has finally come to a close. It was a very interesting one with the usual success of fixing medical equipment. We now have gotten to a rate of about 9 per week. As of now, the count is 29 but more is certainly achievable before the the next week is over. We have fixed all sorts of equipment this week ranging from a necessary printer to 3 or four ekg machines. We even employed this new technique of creating ekg electrode pads out of the plastic seal from glass coke bottles, a nickle sewing clip, and some medical tape. It was very cool when we got to try this out on a patient to see beautiful and clear waves on the EKG monitor. The nurses very very appreciative. They even then decided to give us more equipment hidden away from most to see. We got handed another ekg which we are currently working on as well as a pulse oximeter that had a finicky power switch. We opened up the pulse oximeter and tightened the connections to get a new working oximeter. Success! In other news, we are working on our secondary project where we helping the hospital with a goverment ordered inventory of fridges by excel. It seems they will get new ones if we help them with this. We are also making instructional videos about using the ekg pads that we learned about. This coming Monday is hospital worker appreciation day so there is no work and a fiesta!

That is all for now.

Week 2

This week has been a fast paced work heavy but really rewarding week. It is only Wednesday and we have already fixed up to 10 pieces of medical equipment. The main prize was fixing this Newport e360 ventillator that probably was worth about $5000 dollars. It needed a new flow valve and some inner adjustments but we put it back into service. Now the hospital has 2 ventillators in service which could possibly end up saving more lives! We then fixed 2 aspirators that basically needed some inner cleaning and some minor parts replaced. Lastly, we fixed a centrifuge that needed some carbon brushes replaced along with some cleaning. Besides the machine fixing, we have gotten to know the staff well. We take inventory to see what machines they have and then find the broken ones to repair. We also try to develop these relationships so later on we can talk to them about what more they need to keep up their services. We are planning on doing a needs finding survey and interviewing a few doctors about their most pressing needs. Tomorrow, we are planning on doing a inventory with the surgery unit, and I might even get to witness some surgeries first hand! Well, this is it for now. This weekend we are planning to go to Ometepe Island which apparently is a beautiful national park. Thanks for reading.

NICARAGUA POST SET ONE Week 1

Hello from Managua. I am writing from an internet cafe, but I have loads to tell in this quick short time that I have. So far, working in the hospital has been great. We have worked on about 8 pieces of equipment so far and had a repairing rate of about 50%. We have put about 2 EKGs, a phototherapy light, and a NIBP machine back into service. The staff are really appreciative it seems and keep giving us more equipment to repair. I feel like my partner and I are very welcomed to this hospital. Our homestay father is named Dr. Mercado and he is one of the main contacts in the hospital. He knows a lot about the needs of the hospital and we are definetly going to find out more about what we need to do/give to the hopsital before and after we leave. There are many medical device donation companies across the world that just need the right field information that we can get to donate proper medical equipment that does not breakdown. Next week, we are going to try to work on this ventillator that we have been working on. It seems to be missing a flow sensor that we need to purchase. I am sure if we get that piece we will have a really important ventillator working. Thanks again for reading

Manu

Week 4 Post Early

Well, this is the last week in Costa Rica. It's kind of sad to leave such a nice place. However, I have learned a lot and am as ready as I can be for this upcoming month in Nicaragua. This week we are all trying to spend time with each other since we part ways as some of the group goes to Honduras and others to Nicaragua. Also, we are spending time with our host families and it will be very sad to leave them as well. We are thinking of getting some nice gifts for the grandchildren of our house and perhaps something photo related for the grandmother. Overall, I have been very satisfied by Costa Rica and am looking forward to the next month. Until next time....adios!

Week 3

Sorry for the late posts! This week in Costa Rica has been a very quiet one, but it has taught me a lot. First off, my spanish is getting so much better. Conversations are starting to get easier to understand, and I am able to communicate my ideas much more effectively. The grammar is flowing, and I am starting to feel a part of this culture. Engineering classes are going well too as we have transitioned from the electrical labs to the actual aspect of working in these developing hospitals and how to approach training technicians without going overboard. Recently, we toured San Jose's Children's Hospital in downtown San Jose. The hospital was very modern with state of the art equipment and almost a model for hospitals all across the country. There were CAT Scan machines, other sources of X-Rays, and plenty of incubators and ventilators alike. The main engineer at the hospital even had appropriate working space and conditions to fix the equipment. Tons and tons of money have been poured out on this hospital and I think it is a model hospital in and of itself. This coming next month in Nicaragua will be a true test in trying to help the hospitals get to the next level as best as I can. In terms of exciting other things, we recently had a get together at our Spanish teacher's house. Just imagine all 20+ of us in one house. The house was very nice and almost seemed like home. It was so interesting to see the stark contrast of the well off and the not so well off in Costa Rica. We were lucky to get hosted, and I had a great time. This weekend some friends went to do their own things and I decided to catch up on sleep and other things that I needed to get done. Thanks for reading and this will be my last week in Costa Rica. My next post will be right before I head out to Nicaragua! Cheers!

More Pics

Pics

Beach Trip 2010

Hello again. So, this weekend was crazy fun and interesting. We all left San Jose on a Saturday morning at 5:30am for the beach at Manuel Antonio. We got there around 11am where we ate at a local restaurant, Marlin's. They had pretty decent food of which I got a casada and blackberry juice which was VERY good. The fruits were also so delicious. We then went to the beach. The water that surrounds this beach is basically the Pacific Ocean. I've never seen such strong waves as these before. They were almost like mini tsunamis. The rip currents were so strong that they can pull anyone in if they are not careful. Thus, we had many adventures haha. Luckily, no one got into any serious trouble with the waves although there were some close calls. The beach was very pristine and filled with pure sand. The climate was just gorgeous with calm blue skies and crystal-like sun rays. After spending time at the beach, we all just kicked back and relaxed some more until later when some of us went to a night club near the beach.

The next morning we got up to go to another nearby beach where there were iguanas, monkeys, and sloths nearby on trails. These animals were definitely a sight to see along with the pristine waterfall on a nearby route. It was a pleasure to see these clean clear beaches as well and the waves on this day were not so bad although the bottom of the beach was pretty rocky. We then once again just relaxed and told stories until finally we headed back on the bus back home. This is a generalized account for what happened. Pictures will be forthcoming since I am using a combination of others pictures and some of mine that I have. Another week of classes and training where we come! Congrats Nadal and the Spain national soccer team for their successes! Beat Germany!

Week 2

So, I had a reasonably busy week, so I am only able to make one post for this week. I'll promise to make more frequent ones when I can.

This week I continued my Spanish training. I can now speak and understand many phrases, and I am able to get my way around Costa Rica effectively. The instruction is good, and I feel like the entire class is progressing. I feel that by the end of the month I will be able to communicate well to hospital workers and doctors alike with the spanish knowledge I will have gained.

The engineering lessons are going okay as well. We are learning so much about power supplies, infant incubators, infant warmers, batteries, anesthesia machines alike. We learn basically the common problems with these machines and how to fix them. Most problems are in fact with the leak in tubings or user error. All other problems are more with the power supply which can be fixed with diode bridges or transformers. In fact, in lab we learned how to construct power supplies by using a diode bridge to convert most AC into some DC. We then used a power regulator to convert most of the AC into as pure ranging DC values. These experiences helped us understand the basics of these medical equipments.

So, besides the school work, we do tend to explore the culture of our city. Thursday night, we had salsa dance lessons with an instructor (friend of our spanish teacher). It was really fun, though it was hard at first. It's always fun to dance, and I am going to keep it up as time goes on. After that, we all went and relaxed just tired from exhaustion.

Today, we all went to a hospital in Turialbas where we worked on fixing medical equipment and taking a tour of the hospital. It was a pretty decent hospital with plenty of space and doctors. One thing that struck me the most was that the entire hospital including emergency rooms were not as super streseed (as one sees in the US). Everything almost seemed carefree. Maybe this was typical of the system. When I asked a worker there about emergency wait time, she said that it was nearly the same as in the US since there were enough doctors and nurses but not enough space for crisis loads at all times. Also, another interesting observation was that most of the equipment in the hospital was brand new and in good condition. Lastly, the co-workers in the hospital seemed way to occupied in the World Cup but who could blame them haha. The instruments that I worked on was the infant ventilator which we took apart to examine the inner workings. The filter was found not to be present as well as a source for the humidifier. Those two problems were noted and sent to the main technician. Overall, I learned a lot by visiting this hospital as it is preparing me for my month long test in Nicaragua. On the way home, we noted so many car accidents that I could barely count them with my fingers. We got home after that long ride, and now I have to sleep since I have to get up at 4am to catch the bus for our beach trip to the Pacific Side of Costa Rica, Manuel Antonio. Adios! I'll write my next update probably Monday night.

Monte Verde

So, this weekend was a BLAST! We left San Jose really early at around 6am for the four hour bus drive to Monte Verde, the scene of one of the largest spans of Costa Rican rain forests and ziplining. We reached the city of Monte Verde at around 11 am where we checked into our hostel/hotel and then booked two hiking tours, night walk and day walk. The day walk was pretty good as we got to see the rain forest from a near canopy levels. It was very pretty and nice as we say many flowers and trees, such as the banana and fig tree. The rain forest truly is a sight of biodiversity. The night walk, however, was my favorite. It is during this walk that you can see many of the animals. We saw a sloth hanging on a tree, apparently a rare sight, a rhinocerous beetle, opossum, porcupine, and various stick animals and tarantulas. Through the whole trip, we walked through the night with a flashlight to light our path and guides to lead us the way. This was a very cool experience. Then, we all relaxed at a local touristy bar(dance/music/etc) and then slept. Then, the next day, we went ziplining through the canopy of the rain forest. This byfar was one of the coolest experiences as you are riding on a thin rope from way above the rain forest. It was very fun as you could see the major lakes and volcanoes of Costa Rica from far above and also the trees from below. This byfar is a must do activity as long as you are not afraid of heights. After that, we went back home to San Jose on our bus ride back and slept. It was a great weekend! Now onto another week of work until the next weekend.

Today, we went to a hospital in San Remon where we met the hospital staff and saw the various medical instruments that needed repair. We attempted to repair a few such as the oxygen concentrator and the cardio signal apparatus, but both of them required parts that would need to be purchased. We also got a tour of the hospital. The hospital seems very open but there are about 130 beds for the hospital with about 30-40 doctors. It was a pretty reasonable sized hospital. However, since mostly everyone here gets free health care, the lines for appointments can be very long, a drawback to this system. However, most Costa Ricans are pretty healthy due to their diets, so they don't go to the doctor a lot. After the visit, we came back home. It is now time to sleep as we all go to Monte Verde for ziplining tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed this post. Adios!

Pura Vida

Today was another unique day in the great city of San Jose. We got up and went to class where we learned about 1 one more verb form and then also we learned more about the personal pronouns and adjectives. Now, my sentences are getting much better, and I can even write a little bit better in spanish. The class is very good as all of us are at about the same level, so everything flows pretty well. Our teacher is pretty good too so that helps us in terms of learning the language. After spanish class, we had lunch. I bought an oriental wrap from the supermarket and was surprised to find that it was actually pretty good. We then had our instrumentation class where we learned about suction pumps and promoting negative pressure. We also learned about the various safety valve checks and the most common problems with suction pumps such as the filtrate getting stuck in the motor which would destroy the entire machine. We also had lab where we revisited the idea of soldering and checking our work with the multimeter to see if we correctly connected resistors,etc. We lastly used heat shrink tubing to further enclose the connections. It was a very standard lab that will helps us get through the basics of electronics. After that we went home and did the old homework and reading before we went to a Jazz place to celebrate a friend on the trip's birthday. It was great with good music and I loved it a lot. This was a good way to cap off the day. Now, it really is time for me to sleep. I really feel like that is all I say in the end. Congrats USA for getting to the second round of the World Cup!

Tuesday!!!!

Well hello avid readers! Today was another great and soothing day. The same old routine was pretty much the same old routine. We got up early and had a breakfast or rice and beans with vegetables mixed in. We also had fresh watermelon. We took the bus to school where we were then split up into our spanish classes. Today we learned two particular verb forms that end in ar and er. For example, if one wanted to say I speak spanish, one would say yo hablo espanol. We learned a lot more words than that and I don't want to bore you with mundane details. We also learned some technical spanish words that would help us in describing certain tools that we would use like screwdrivers and hammers. After spanish class, we went to lunch at this real cool Italian restaurant where I had some Central American style pasta. It was muy gusta. We then headed back to the school where we had our biomedical equipment lessons. We learned about the autoclave today and how to keep it proper and functional. We learned about the pressure and temperature requirements to keep equipment sterile. Lastly, we went to biomedical lab where we explored the uses of the multimeter. Lastly, we left school and stopped at The Tea Shop and sampled tons of tea. I had a berry flavored tea that was really good. I had some cake to go along with it. Then, we explored a Jazz Cafe for tomorrow when one of our good friend's birthday is. Well, it is getting late, and I must go to bed so until next time my friends.

Sunday/Monday Combined Post

So, I am very sorry, but my posts have been delayed! I promise I will be better. Sunday, we explored the city of San Jose and saw the various markets and restaurants all around. It was very fun to people watch, as we all pretty much did. My favorite thing to see was the vendors selling copies of The Karate Kid and Toy Story 3 already. It reminded me a lot of India. After exploring the city, we all got back and did our reading for the quiz the very next day on BP apparatuses and Electrical Safety.

Today, we all got up at around 6am and got ready for school. At school we started the long-haul of Spanish I. We learned the verbs ser and estar and their various forms through different subject pronouns. We also learned the various adjectives that could then be used to complete sentences. We even learned how to describe those adjectives with demonstrative pronouns that are indefinite and definite. Lastly, we talked about how different words have different genders, masculine and feminine. It was a very intense experience, but I will learn much from it.

After Spanish class, we had lunch at a local place and ate those traditional rice and beans. We then came back at around 1pm for instrumentation lecture. We learned about electrical safety and the electrical requirements for instrumentation in the hospitals. We learned important facts such as maximum current leakage through instrumentation has to be at max 500 micro amps. We learned that we needed to make sure our workspace did not have any loose conducting wires lying around so the technicians and ourselves did not get shocked. Another important task was brought to us. We had to bring the respect to the technicians by doing our jobs correctly so that when we teach them they will be able to be fully part of the hospital group.

After instrumentation lecture, we had instrumentation lab where we built our own functional extension cord by taking some extra wire and connecting it to a plug which was then also wired to an outlet from the other end. We then hooked a soldering iron to test the functionality of the extension cord and saw that it worked. It was a fairly simply first lab. Well, now I think I said enough. I hope you've been enjoying my blog. I have class again tomorrow, so I have to sleep. As they say in Spanish, bueno noche!!! (good night)....

Rafting on the River Pacuere

So, today was amazing. I can't even describe how amazing it was, but I'll try my best. We all got up at around 4:45 am (yes that is way too early). We all got ready for the rafting trips and proceeded to head out by around 5:45pm. We found the bus stop (boy was that a relief), and got to the ALE school at around 6:15pm just in time to get picked up by our tour guide Diaz for the rafting trip. Our entire EWH group went on this trip which was about a 2 and half our drive from the school. Once we got to the place, we had to leave our belongings in the van and secure our sandals to our feet for this rocky ride. For me personally, I used a piece of string (engineering skills) to tie the flip flop straps to the back of my heel. Diaz, our guide, said that he was impressed at this "new" technology in a joking manner. We then got in groups of 6 and rafted down the Pacuere River. The river had very many rapids that ranged from Class 1 to 4. The whole experience was very exciting. Our raft guide Luis made us do tricks like standing up in the middle of rapids or rowing backwards. Afterwards, we eat at a local restaurant eating some nice chicken, rice, beans, etc and those lovely fried plantains watching Denmark beat some team I can't remember. We then got back in time for some nice home cooked meals from our host mother Flori.

Day 2

This day was in fact one of the most memorable days in and of itself. We all had to wake up at 6am to shower up, eat breakfast, and go to the ALE academia for Spanish language and biomedical instrumentation training. It was there that we were oriented to the goals of Engineering World Health and also learned about being safe in Costa Rica. During orientation, we all had to play this name game where we would go around the entire group until everyone could name each other's name and favorite country. After that, we all went to lunch. Lunch consisted of rice, beans, plantain, and chicken. It was very delicious. After lunch, we all came back for our first lecture in biomedical instrumentation where we learned about blood pressure machines and the ways in which they can be fixed. For example, most problems with those machines are that there is a air leak, calibration error, mercury calibration error, etc. The lecture was pretty informative and I definitely learned a good amount. After lecture, we all had lab where we basically organized all the biomedical equipment for use later in the month. After class was over, we had a bit of an interesting adventure of our own. Since we weren't really paying attention to directions on the way to school since our host mother brought us there, we kind of had problems on the way back. Most of the streets in Costa Rica do not have names, and thus finding your way consists of compass directions and measurement approximations. I also forget to mention that it rains monsoon style, so getting lost is not really a good thing. As guys however, we kind of figured that we knew where to go without asking for help. That worked for half an hour until we got too drenched to walk. We stopped at a supermarket and found someone who would call our host mother and helped us get back home. From now on, we're going to pay more attention to landmarks I should say the least. Well, tomorrow we'll go rafting, and I'm ready for more adventure in this exciting place.

Arrival

Yesterday was a tiring but exciting day. We arrived at the airport (a group of 6 of us) at around 11:50am, and we proceeded to wait for the others in our group at the airport. To pass time, we played various card games like Go Fish and Mafia. Then finally when we all arrived, we took our shuttle van to ALE, our language and engineering school. It was there that we were picked up by our host mother. My particular host had to host six of us guys, so I guess you could call it a mini-frat house no puns intended. Well, language lessons start tomorrow, so I'll write more when I'm more adjusted. This is going to be an awesome experience!

It's about 34 hours and 30 minutes till I board the plane to Costa Rica. I am very excited to explore this new land and meet the various people that are coming on this trip. I seemed to have packed whatever was on that magic list that we got, but I still think I'm missing something. I guess that is how it always is. This is one trip I am sure I will always remember.

I just started packing preparations, and I am just looking forward to what I expect to be a great trip.

Intro:

So this is my blog for the Engineering World Health Trip to Costa Rica.

I hope to describe all the exciting things that will most likely happen.

I leave June 17th!