One More Week (wait, what?..........ALREADY?!)

This week, we have really jumped into repairing equipment very efficiently. Whereas at the beginning of the four weeks, it seemed as though we would end each day with more work to do machines than when we started, now we are pulling up projects that have been left on the back burners. We fixed the collimator on a fixed X-ray machine early in the week and I’ve gotten a good deal more practice with the arc welder (see large metal fence). The arc welder actually reminds me a great deal of the electrosurgery units in the way it works. Anyone know which came first or if one inspired the other?
We are learning and coming up with many new clever tricks also for fixing devices or finding alternatives. For example, the stethoscope below has a new diaphragm cut out of an old x-ray plaque. It is held to the bell with an elastic gasket made from medical tubing, placed in a circle, fused, and sliced along its interior edge. How cool!
Finally, I got my supplementary application for UNC on Friday (yaaaay) so I’m scribbling away on the essay and trying to figure out how I am going to submit it…

Granada, Nicaragua (not Spain)

Granada is the most popular tourist town in Nicaragua. Situated on the giant Lake Nicaragua with a great view of the island volcanoes, the little town bustles with horse drawn carriages, guided tour groups and street vendors and markets. Outside of the town borders though, we stayed at a very quiet guest house called the Dolphin. We had a very relaxing weekend and visited the Laguna del Apoyo, a very large crater lake (with much easier access!). The cat we found at an inn on the water expresses the pace of life on the countryside and our prerogative for the weekend.

Care, Culture, and Cumpleaños

Week two ended with quite a bit of excitement at Hospital Velez Paiz. We started off Friday by “upgrading” the old Bili-lights donated by previous EWH groups. The phototherapy lights (blue, right) were an EWH design project and came equipped with a batter for portability and reliability during power outages. Our hospital, though, has such an influx of children in the neonatal ward that the lights need to be passed from one child to the next immediately without time to recharge. As we brought a newer version of the light with us as a donation, we were supposed to bring the old lights back for research purposes. But, as the lights were in such high demand, we were asked to replace the batteries with a wall transformer and leave them in service.
After replacing the lights, we were kindly invited to watch an orthopedic surgery on a fractured radius. The surgery was interesting and we even spotted the orthopedic saw we fixed back in service in the OR. Unfortunately there were only enough lead vests for the anesthesiologist and the radiologist to wear so hopefully the rest of us in the room didn’t absorb too much radiation during the shots taken.

Finally, one of our friends from maintenance, Yelba, had a birthday. We had been told earlier in the week that she was having a birthday and that there would be some cake but little did we know that she was throwing quite a party! You can see she is quite content with her enormous cakes (you can see the corner of the second equally massive pastry to her left). The party was complete with over 25 guests from the hospital, salad, pork rinds, blaring music, and a huge pile of presents. Even Caleb, Juan’s son, got to attend because his daycare was closed. He likes Spiderman a lot! (ok, maybe I look like I like Spiderman more).