Our Problem Statement
We as a team wish to deal with two problems in the developing world. The first is the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia in the Dominican Republic. The second is the commonality of broken medical machines in third world countries. These medical devices, used by hospitals in the United States, are sent over to third world countries in a broken state and usually end up sitting idle and unused. We need to send these devices in a repaired state and inform people abroad of how to fix them.
Our Solution
In regards to iron deficiency anemia, we plan on designing and building a simple and cost-effective hemoglobinometer to be used by doctors in the Dominican Republic. This will allow the doctors to quickly diagnose their patients without having to spend time and money on bloodwork (this is especially good for doctors who spend much of their time doing mobile medical clinics). Travelling to the Dominican Republic this past summer allowed us to better assess anemia in a 3rd world country. In regards to the second problem, we plan on acting as a middleman in the process of sending unwanted, broken medical machines (preferably from the U-M Hospital system) to third world countries. These machines will not only be repaired by us, but we will continue to make instructional videos and manuals (mostly in Spanish) so that those in the Dominican Republic can fix the devices in the future.
Our 2014-2015 Goals
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This year, we will create a 3d model of a hemoglobinometer and then optimize our design. In 2-3 years, we hope to have a working, inexpensive hemoglobinometer.
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Will hold ~3 workshops to teach students specific technical and hands-on skills, even collaborating with groups outside M-HEAL.
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We plan to fix medical devices so that they can be sent to 3rd world countries in a usable condition. This will be happening over the course of the following years, and we are excited to be working with faculty/students from the medical school this year!
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As a service project, we will hold a vitamin drive to send to the Dominican Republic.
Medical Device Repair Collaborative
Contact: mheal-mdrc@umich.edu
M-HEAL members Angie Zhang, Eric Cosky, and Ryan Thomas served alongside Timmy Global Health in their first-ever medical service brigade to Mao, Dominican Republic. Partnering with Banelino Salud, a local clinic and health promoter, they were able to help see 342 patients in four different communities. Their job roles varied from registering patients, collecting histories, running tests and measuring vitals, scribing for physicians, running pharmacy, to interviewing and translating for both Spanish- and Creole-speaking patients. They also gathered invaluable information from several physicians on the current state of anemia in the area, as well as information collected through Timmy Global Health's public health survey, to steer the Medical Device Repair Collaborative's team project of creating a hemoglobinometer to implement in the Dominican Republic.