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Neonatal Asphyxia Project Updates

This semester, the Neonatal Asphyxia Project has made incredible progress! As a member of the Build sub-team, I’ve been able to put my classroom-taught SolidWorks skills to real use, as my team CADed rough models of all of our cooling system components, including the motherboard, fan, pump, etc. This exercise had two purposes: 1) to improve our skills in CAD and 2) to 3D print the parts, so that the Build sub-team had accurate models and dimensions for the building of the frame. The printers were extremely busy at the end of the semester, so we didn’t end up printing our parts, but we made them out of cardboard as stand-ins until we are able to print in the Fall. Here is Aria and I measuring dimensions to size down our PVC frame!

Although we worked hard this semester, we also made time for fun! We had several bonding events throughout the semester, including homemade brunch, a pizza party, a Super Smash Bros hangout, and a mixer with The Initiative. We’ve loved bonding, and we love being friends as well as teammates!

- Ashley

#nap #neonatal asphyxia project

EHCO Day 4!

We started the day at Church Health, which had a similar mission to Christ Community Health Services in that they serve uninsured populations. Church Health was in a beautiful building that was abandoned for years after Sears left but has now been restored and is filled with restaurants and other offices. Church Health really focus on the model for healthy living, including friends and family, faith life, medical, movement, work, emotional, and nutrition. I thought this was really interesting because in my public health class we talk a lot about how a healthy life needs so much more than just health care. We saw a cooking class going on that was teaching people about healthy cooking, a fitness center partnered with the YMCA, and the medical facilities. Overall, Church Health made me think about how typical hospitals should try to include more aspects of overall wellness.

Next, we headed to the main event of the week, St. Jude’s. We were first greeted by our host with the most genuine Southern hospitality that I have ever witnessed. We were given gift bags and then were off to a tour of the facility. The hospital is breathtaking and often decorated with art by patients. One exhibit, the ABC’s of cancer, I found especially powerful because it clearly told the story of how kids interact with their disease. I was also shocked with the size of the research areas because it showed that doing groundbreaking research is one of the main goals of the hospital. After the tour, we had the life-changing experience of having a panel with 3 University of Michigan graduates: the CEO, VP Clinical Operations, and a Radiation/Oncology chair of the proton-beam therapy. They told us about their path to St. Jude’s and what they would tell their undergraduate self. We were able to ask a few questions, but clearly these were busy people so we couldn’t talk for long. However the 45 minute panel was still incredibly valuable in thinking about my future, and the alumni were so excited to talk to us and open to more questions through e-mail. Lastly, we heard from the two people starting the St. Jude graduate school. The school was unlike anything I have heard about before. It sounds like a really valuable program that is well funded and has a personalized research approach, so I think many members of our group were very interested in applying.

We ended the day with a Serve 901 event, where we heard from a teacher and a photographer in Memphis and their work with social justice causes.

-Alexa

#ehco

SANA Day 6

From interviewing doctors and getting to know the health system in Guatemala to learning how to salsa dance from the host family, SANA 2019 trip was full of new experiences and new relationships. Our team had the chance to identify needs in the community and in the hospitals, learn about the various outreach campaigns of clinics, visit small home clinics, and examine stigma around different health problems. We explored the streets of Quetzaltenango, molded homemade chocolate, broke “cascarones” full of pica-pica (confetti) on our heads, drove through the clouds, relaxed in a hot spring, and saw an active volcano. As a team, we marked the end of every night by gathering on the rooftop as a team to reflect on the roses, buds, and thorns of our day and goals for the next clinic visit and witnessed each other grow and improve in our abilities to conduct needs assessment. Finally, without our host families, the wonderful memories that we made would not have been the same. Not only did this trip allow us to build partnership with the community of Quetzaltenango in order to address the existing clinical needs in the future, but it was also a unique opportunity to absorb the culture and form valuable friendships.

- Annie Lim

#sana

SANA Day 5

Today’s morning would be like no other yet. We traveled to many smaller clinics in the more rural, off city areas. We first visited a center where they treat children with epilepsy. Despite the fact that it was within someone’s home, we were humbled to see the genuine care that these lovely women hoped to provide to their community. They gave us a tour and allowed us to see what resources that had available to use. After this interview, we were pleasantly surprised as we rode up to a steep mountain trail. Up we went, hiking through the magnetic mountains where the views were stunning and the heat was sizzling. Here we were welcomed to a small community clinic, focused mainly on care for mothers. We were pleased to see that even far away from the city, measures were taken to educate the people and preventative medicinal practices were encouraged. We were also informed about birth control methods, and found out about a pervasive misogyny issue that forces women to have to resort to smaller clinics while men are able to go to the hospital. It was nice to see that women were coming together to take care of themselves and each other. After a rocky and slippery way down, we headed out to our next adventure: the hot springs. The drive there was absolutely stunning: weaving through the mountains felt like a rollercoaster. At times we were dangerously close to the edge but the vast forests, fruitful valleys and fluffy clouds were worth the scare. The hot spring exceeded our expectations. We were quite literally in the clouds, surrounded by beautiful vegetation. The water itself was a gorgeous green, and the way the smoke rose from the water surface allowed for a magical mist effect that seemed to be straight out of the movies. Our group was able to bond inside the natural heat of the spring, making it a refreshing, relaxing and peaceful end to an amazing week.

- Aashna Pradhan

#sana

SANA Day 4

Hola!

The day started of nice with fruit salad and yogurt on top for breakfast. Then we walked to Cruz Roja de Guatemalteca. Once there we were taken for a tour of the clinic. We got to see the reception area, two patient rooms, their x-ray machine, a psychiatrist office, their dental office, and three ambulances. It was very clear this clinic was much more funded then anything we have seen so far. As well their business model was different. They had two sponsors, the rotary of Xela and the bread place we keep getting bread from! With the help of their sponsors Cruz Roja hosted a run to raise money. With the money raised they were able to buy two brand new dental chairs and supplies. The interview itself was also very informative and interesting. We learned about how they treat diabetes, prevent cancer, and help patients that have complications with at home pregnancies. Furthermore, we also touched upon mental health and sexually transmitted diseases. It was interesting to find out that only girls get HPV vacaciones and even then only if they have the resources. As well, it seems as if mental health is not looked at as an individual problem in Guatemalan culture but rather a medical issue within the society. The second half of the day we went to a different clinic named FUNDAP. FUNDAP focused a lot on prevention campaigns. They did ones for health, education, local artisans and much more. It was great to see a place where they were so focused on outreach and primary/preventative care and not just solutions/treatment. As well at the end of the interview the lady asked us questions about our purpose for coming here and our life back at U of M. After that we went to the market to buy more trinkets and we all got yummy churros! Lastly we went to a host family to do our reflection for the day and all got to bond over our "roses" and "thorns".

- Natasha Rinnig

#sana

SANA Day 3

Hi M-Heal! It’s the SANA team here coming to you live from Xela, Guatemala and it’s officially Day 3. Today was a large turning point in our journey. Our team knew exactly what we were getting ourselves into but we had a few unforeseen challenges that we tweaked into making the interviews and needs assessment conducting perfect. We became more and more used to working well with the translators and asked many questions structured for our goals towards a project and creating needs statements. Each one of our members came out of ASCAN satisfied. Today we went to ASCAN: Asociacíon Quetzalteca Contra El Cáncer that was a small clinic specialized in treating prostate cancer, breast cancer, and cervix cancer. It was an interesting change of pace from many of the government funded public hospitals we had previously been seeing. Throughout the interviews with the doctors, administrator, a nurse, and a patient, they all directed us towards creating specific possible medical device ideas. Furthermore, it was nice to hear how ASCAN campaigns to communities in order to educate the people about cancer which can definitely be something done more often. After conducting interviews, our team went to a large, open market and tried lots of yummy churros and Guatemala pan (bread)! There is still more left to be discovered. Stay tuned!

- Jessica YuQi Wang

#sana

SANA Day 2

Hey everyone! We started our second day of the trip by visiting a hospital called Hospital Rodolfo Robles which specializes in respiratory infections. We took a scenic 30 min walk to the clinic and once we got there we had a chance to stand in their entryway courtyard and look around. It was beautiful- the buildings were painted yellow with red accents and plants hung in planters around the sides of the grassy opening in the middle of the courtyard. We got to talk to the director of the hospital as well as nurses and patients. I was struck by how much the hospital staff cared about the patients- specifically, when we were in the pediatric unit we learned that a doctor came in to check a baby at least 4 times a day and another doctor stayed all night to check on it as well. Even with low resources they were fully committed to providing the best care possible to their patients. After the interviews we had time to explore the city- we spent some time at markets and the city’s Central Park. It was a great day two of the trip!

- Sona Raju

#sana

SANA Day 1

Hey M-HEAL! After finally getting to see Xela in the daylight, we were blown away by the vibrancy and liveliness of the people and architecture around us. Our homestay families greeted us with open arms, and we’ve gotten to get to know their families and culture much better. After a delicious breakfast, we started today visiting and interviewing at one of the largest public hospitals in Guatemala, Hospital Regional del Occidente. It was amazing to see the numbers of people who line up each morning to receive care, regardless of how many hours it takes them to reach the hospital. Although this led to extremely long lines of people waiting for care, we’re excited to see how we can analyze the needs assessment we gathered from administrators, nurses, and doctors. On a sweeter note, we also got to try many different kinds of chocolate at a generations old chocolatier. Although I personally would not recommend chocolate with 0% sugar in it, Guatemalan hot chocolate definitely has everyone else’s beat.

- Anjali Vaishnav

#sana #day 1

Day 3 of EHCO!

Today, we had the opportunity to tour Microport and learn about what they do. We’d tell you the details, but then we’d have to kill you…and none of us want that.

We also got the chance to go to the Christ Community Health Services and talk to the COO, two doctors, and a spiritual counselor. It was an enlightening experience because the aspects of spiritual needs in healthcare was something that hadn’t really occurred to us. There was one phrase in particular that really stood out and could be applied to many different things — “there are no bad neighborhoods, only disinvested ones.”

At night, we explored the famous Beale street and stopped to eat at a BBQ joint called Blue City. There was live music and the food was amazing. The rib meat fell off the bones and the apple dumpling was served on the skillet it was cooked in and with a big scoop of ice cream on top.

We tested our teamwork and problem-solving skills in the Memphis Escape Room. With the timer ominously counting down on the wall, we scrambled to get the roster so that the Grizzlies could play and avoid the wrath of the many fans. With 15 minutes left on the clock, we managed to solve the final clue and save the game. It was never a question if we would escape the room---just how fast we could do it. After all, we are the Leaders and the Best.

#ehco

EHCO Day 2!

Today was truly an incredibly sobering and humbling day. We had the opportunity to spend the majority of our morning visiting the national civil rights museum, located at the Lorraine motel – the very place Dr. Martin Luther King was shot. We learned about the weight, context, history, and importance of not only the continued issues of racial civil rights faced by our nations, but created more questions about fundamental rights which still have yet to be answered.

Following our heavy morning of self-reflection and learning, we took a break and visited central barbecue (the food was amazing!!). Afterwards, we drove around the city and knocked a couple of items off of our bucket list, including creating a human pyramid in front of Bass Pro Pyramid, singing “10 feet off beale street” 10 feet off of Beale Street, and getting hot tea in Casablanca in preparation for our orientation with Serve 901.

To top off our day, we visited the historical beautiful Clayborn Temple, where black sanitation workers once began the fight for their human rights, for our Serve 901 orientation. Listening to two great speakers, one narrative which had begun to unfold as we visited the museum was ultimately hammered home in the temple. Many of us have the amazing privilege to live as free and equal people in today’s world, but what is even more critical is being able to use that privilege to provide the same opportunity to those who don’t.

*shot from the balcony upon which Dr. Martin Luther King spent his final minutes.

-Austin

#ehco #day 2

Clear Lung Project Updates

Currently, the Clear Lung Project Design and Hardware sub teams are collaborating to create the device prototype. It was determined that a vest-like material would be utilized. A weighted vest with a front pocket was purchased and stuffed with a cotton-type material during the testing phases in order to insulate and minimize background noise. The team plans to attach the piezo microphones directly into the vest where recordings of the lung sounds will take place. Four piezo microphones will be attached to this vest, with one in each quadrant of the back: upper-left, upper-right, lower-back, and lower-right. At this point in the project design, the sub teams will be working to maximize comfort and efficiency in sound recording.

- John Obeid

#clear lung project

EHCO 2019 Day 1

During the first day of the trip, I was super excited to start heading to Memphis. We split up into 2 different cars with Austin and Abhay leading one car and Anu and Darel driving the other car. We were sad to hear that Luca couldn’t be making the trip with us, but we had to persevere. We left Ann Arbor at 9 am and drove through Ohio till we got to Indianapolis, where we stopped at Circle Centre Mall in downtown Indianapolis for lunch. We left at 2 pm and then continued through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and then we finally made it to Memphis, Tennessee at 8 PM CST. During the car ride, we played lots of ice breakers and jammed out to music the whole way down. Once we got settled into the Bunkhouse, we then got dinner at Huey’s and then hung out for the rest of the night.

From, Jason Lo

#ehco #day 1

From the Incubator to the Clear Lung Project

I initially joined M-HEAL as a member of the Incubator, a space where we worked in small project groups to mimic the motions of a full project team (needs assessment, ideation, prototyping). This experience was valuable as it taught me the necessary skills to understand the importance of M-HEAL and the work that we as an organization do every week. I’m glad I had a stepping stone before joining the Clear Lung Project because I am now able to better understand why certain decisions are made and how to best proceed to a solution. My time on the Clear Lung Project as a part of the Machine Learning (ML) sub-team has been rewarding and insightful. As a sophomore, I often don’t fully understand all of the tools that we use to design our program, but I am surrounded by other individuals in my team who constantly help me grow and understand the project material. This year, I’ve gotten to see our project go from just a data set to a functional program that can be used as a basis when we obtain lung sound data. Each week we work collaboratively to add more components to our program and fine tune what we have in hopes to find the ML model that best fits with the data.

I am excited to see where the Clear Lung Project takes us in the future. I hope that one day, all of the work that we have put in and challenges we have overcome reflects in a finalized product that makes an impact in the society around us.

- Tanvi Deshmukh

#clear lung project

Joining Project MESA

My name is Harini Pennathur and I am a sophomore studying Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan. This semester, I joined Project MESA and its finance subcommittee on the Business end of the team.

I joined Project MESA because I shared a passion for its vision for Women’s Health. I resonated with the work it was doing in Nicaragua for women who did not have access to accurate, comfortable, or sanitary preventative exams and who were losing their lives because of it. I felt as though my skillset was a perfect match for this team and I could not wait to ultimately help the team widen its reach beginning in Nicaragua and expanding across the world.

Throughout my time on the team, I have applied to grants and competitions such as the OptiMize Challenge and the Global Social Venture Competition. These applications entailed constructing a five year financial projection, a revenue model, and writing essays highlighting Project MESA. Additionally, I have helped create a restaurant fundraiser for our team.

Being a member of Project MESA has opened my eyes to the severity of cervical cancer in low resource areas and has broadened my global health perspective immensely. By being part of finance specifically, I have learned how to effectively spend money to increase sustainability of medical equipment and of our team as a whole. Additionally, overseeing finances has shown me the importance of considering funding when making any sort of decision. Furthermore, through grant writing, I have learned how to properly and effectively advocate for my team and for our cause.

Beyond the numerous professional knowledge I have gained, Project MESA has introduced me to wonderful group of passionate, intelligent and kind people with whom I feel lucky to spend meetings and share a common goal with. Regardless of the fact that I was a new member this year, I have felt welcomed and embraced by the entire team, and I am excited to continue to contribute and learn in the years to come.

- Harini Pennathur

#project mesa #cervical cancer #mesa

Stepping out of the comfort zone with The MEND

As an incoming freshman at the University of Michigan, I found myself struggling to sort through all the opportunities that were available to me. The sheer number of people and clubs on campus was overwhelming to say the least. I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in biomedical engineering. When I found M-HEAL at summer orientation I was excited to see that there was a club where I could focus on both of my goals.

Within M-HEAL, I am a member of the MEND (Meeting Elderly Needs by Design) team. This team is working to create a device to help prevent injuries that occur when elderly people fall. The MEND team is filled with some of the most welcoming, energetic, and fun people that I know. Every meeting is incredibly enjoyable and I always feel like we are working towards a goal that will hopefully end up helping many people. During our weekly meetings I am always impressed by how a bunch of college students are taking the initiative to spend their free time to make their visions a reality. Everyone on the MEND team has their own motives to be there, but we still all get along really well.

Being a member of the design subteam of MEND, I have needed to use different machines and learn different techniques to fabricate the prototypes. Coming into the club, I had no woodshop experience. However, I was encouraged to get C-SED certified. This means that I attended training on how to use the tools in the workshop and demonstrated the ability to use these tools. Being a member of MEND has forced me to step out of my comfort zone and learn how to use all the scary looking saws and drills in the workshop. The amount of confidence I have gained in fabrication from the repeated exposure and use of these tools has opened my eyes to the non-theoretical side of engineering.

- Keshav Akella

#the MEND #mend #woodshop

Finding a home on the CSF Global Team

Leaving my home in India to come here was an extremely exciting and daunting experience. Being an M-HEAL member is one of the few special things that has made me feel like I truly belong at the University of Michigan. I applied to be a part of the CSF Global team as a freshman in Winter 2018 because I love working with children and am also enthusiastic about understanding biotechnology and its applications. In addition to allowing me to do meaningful work that is close to my heart, being in this team has also allowed me to meet some great, funny and motivated people like my teammates Maddie, Kelly and Elijah. Being in a small focused team that just formed has allowed me to shape our decisions and influence our successes to a significant degree and I feel very grateful for this chance.

I have learnt numerous things about Cerebral Palsy, Bangladesh and assistive technology along with my team as we research and prepare for our Needs Assessment trip this summer. One of the most interesting aspects of our research has been about trying to understand the culture of Bangladesh and the lifestyles of Bangladeshi people. We met up with some students in the Bangladeshi Students Association who had been to Bangladesh themselves so we could understand gain deeper insights into practical knowledge that would prove to be useful when we try to connect with patients, their parents and healthcare workers in Bangladesh.

I learnt that there is a huge lack of provisions in terms of healthcare for a vast majority in rural areas. In these areas faith healers are immensely popular and people are suspicious of modern medicine and technology. I was touched after learning about the struggles that so many innocent children face. There is a huge stigma against disability of any kind in rural Bangladesh, and it is common for parents to abandon their babies for this reason. These stories really moved me. Moreover, getting the chance to talk to so many people (like our faculty advisor Dr. Mousumi Banerjee) who are doing great work to improve living standards in developing countries like Bangladesh and my own country, India has been truly inspiring. I can’t wait to meet the children of Sirajganj, understand their problems and try my absolute best to build happier lives for them.

- Anjali Vyas

#csf global #cerebral palsy

Learning with Team InforMation

As a freshman at such a large university, it was difficult finding a club that met my academic interests, so when I heard about M-HEAL from my roommate, I was ecstatic. When I was looking through the projects, the one that caught my eye was Team Information because of its basis in technology. I thought it was very interesting considering how in this generation, technology is all around us. I really wanted to help out a region where they did not have the advancements in technology many of us take for granted and that was Project Lily. The team was trying to create a way for medical professionals in those regions to easily upload patient data with the limited technology they have. In addition to this project, we began a new one which was for the World Medical Relief Organization. We are in the process of creating an app to help improve the sorting process.

A couple Saturdays ago, I volunteered at WMR and it was a great experience. I was able to see the behind the scenes of the macro and micro sorting process and determine exactly what could be improved to make the process more efficient. One of the main struggles was determining what each medical device was because there were so many and as a result, a lot of time was wasted asking questions. After visiting WMR, I was able to suggest more specific ideas that would help WMR tremendously and therefore exactly what the app would need. Our current app idea is to have an app that would be able to tell us what the medical device was based on a photo or by typing in some characteristics of the device. M-HEAL has allowed me to meet so many people. The members in my team consists of students of all grades and across the different schools. We all have different opinions which I believe is very beneficial because we are able discuss and convey many ideas trying to come up with the best solution. I am constantly learning and I can’t wait to see the finished product.

- Joyce Zhang

#team information #world medical relief #wmr

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