March 11, 2010

Engineering World Health is partnering with AmeriCares for the week of March 15-19 to perform a critical assessment of the state of medical technology in Port-au-Prince two months after the devastating earthquake.  A team of three EWH biomedical engineers and technicians are traveling to Haiti for a week to visit up to five hospitals and repair as much life-saving medical technology as possible. 

Much of the hospital infrastructure in Haiti was destroyed in the aftermath of the earthquake on January 12, and the result has been an insufficient capacity to treat wounded victims of the earthquake and other Haitians in desperate need of medical care.  Through a generous outpouring of support from the international humanitarian aid community, much new medical equipment has been donated to Haiti.  However, this equipment is not always maximized to its full potential due to a lack of hospital infrastructure and/or hospital technicians to properly install and maintain it.  EWH has the technical expertise to install equipment and the cultural understanding to advise the hospital staff in its proper operation and maintenance.   

Our team includes Jean Polycarpe, a Haitian hospital technician currently working in New Jersey, and Justin Cooper and Lora Perry, two biomedical engineers with experience installing and repairing medical equipment on previous trips to Haiti.  The information gained by EWH in assessing these hospitals and their equipment will be useful to other international health NGOs working in Haiti.  AmeriCares and EWH are currently discussing subsequent trips by EWH to Haiti in the coming months to train technicians and increase capacity in the Haitian hospitals.

A photo of a fishing boat taken by Justin Cooper on a previous trip to Haiti.