McKena Miyashiro |
As an undergraduate, 2014 alum Maldeep Kang always knew he had an interest in biomedical engineering. But he never knew this interest would lead him to Haiti.
This summer Kang worked 11-hour shifts under extreme weather conditions and the threat of a viral disease while repairing and installing medical equipment at Bernard Mevs Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He was accompanied by seniors Jessica Lazatin and Nate Roddy and engineering technician Steve Rees.
“We learned all the theory in class, but none of us knew how powerful our education was through repairing and installing simple medical equipment,” said Kang.
He and his team labored to maintain hospital equipment, added monitors to the ICU and repaired surgical resources.
“It was very rewarding from the standpoint that we were able to make a difference,” Rees said. “I think we fixed things into a place well enough for the hospital to run for six months or so, which doesn’t sound like a long time, but if there’s no one repairing things or knowing the proper way to maintain them, it degrades.”
Long affected by poverty, disease and political instability, Haiti gained a prominent humanitarian presence through relief efforts following the 2010 earthquake. Although there was an initial outpouring of support for Haiti, the country is still trying to rebuild. Kang said he was struck by the conditions there.
“Because I lived in India, I was expecting poverty like India,” Kang said. “I felt like Haiti was a lot poorer.”
The group stayed about three miles away from Cité Soleil, one of the poorest and most dangerous slums in the western hemisphere.
“For me, this was my first trip to a very impoverished region,” Rees said. “We made it out of the hospital compounds in the evenings to eat and socialize at the United Nations.That was our real time of getting around the city and seeing the conditions. It was definitely a humbling experience.”
The group, all members of UP’s Engineering World Health club chapter, traveled to Haiti through a program called Project Medishare, an organization that promotes comprehensive health care in developing countries.
As a freshman, Kang noticed the lack of biomedical engineering clubs on campus and felt inspired to co-found a chapter of Engineering World Health. With 31 global chapter, EWH aims to help students apply their classroom knowledge to real-life situations in developing world hospitals.
Kang is excited about UP’s effort to focus on improving the quality of healthcare around the world through biomedical engineering. This year, the Shiley School of Engineering is offering a master’s degree in that field of study.
According to faculty adviser Joe Hoffbeck, the Haiti trip was a success.
“It was a huge accomplishment to put everything together and it was great to see that they [the students] were able to actually make it happen and go down to Haiti,” Koffbeck said. “The people running the hospital were very happy and grateful for the work that the students did there.”
McKena Miyashiro is a reporter for The Beacon. You can reach her at miyashir17@up.edu.
