Global Engagement Providing a wealth of extra- and co-curricular activities for students to gain hands-on experiences in cities, towns, and neighborhoods around the corner and around the world. M A r k e r S A n d M i l e S to n e S 2010 Students and faculty establish Engineers for International Development (EfID) to connect engineering students with existing needs for simple infrastructure improvement in developing countries and begin work in Nicaraguan village 2015 EfID chapter wins Second Place in the 2015 National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying Award competition for connecting professional practice and education 2015 Bioengineering students travel to Guatemala to repair hospital equipment
Engineering Students Fix Equipment in Guatemalan Hospitals The Roosevelt and San Juan de Dios Hospitals in Guatemala have no shortage of medical equipment. What the hospitals need, however, are trained and qualifed people who can repair or maintain the equipment. To help solve this dilemma, fve Volgenau School of Engineering students partnered with Engineering World Health to travel to Guatemala and ofer their assistance. The team spent three weeks at Guatemalan hospitals troubleshooting, repairing, and, if necessary, disposing of donated medical devices and supplies. Some devices were as simple as an electric fan, others as complicated as an autoclave. The team made the city of Antigua its home for the month, dividing accommodations between two large homestays on the edge of town. Antigua is known for its beautiful architecture and panoramic views of three volcanoes, but this team wasn't there to sightsee. They had important work to do. In the frst week, the students jumped right into intensive Spanish lessons and their work at the hospitals. 26
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"The hardest aspect of this trip was communication," says bioengineering major Caitlin Johnson. "It was difcult to communicate to the maintenance department how they should maintain the equipment or how to repair easy fxes by themselves. This required a lot of close work with the technicians at the hospital, all of whom had very little English." The students were also surprised at the sheer number of donations the hospital received. "The hospitals have so many donations from other countries sitting around the hospital, or outside in the ‘graveyard'—a fenced-in area reserved for medical devices—that they can't or don't know how to use," says Johnson. "The amount of equipment is staggering." The equipment is donated for many diferent reasons— charity, age limits, or recalls. Some machines are broken, some are incompatible with the local power rating, some are missing parts and some have instructions only in English. Without technicians who understand the machinery or maintain it, the equipment is useless.
