Krysten Mah  |  EWH Summer Institute

Why did you choose biomedical engineering?

The reason why I decided to study biomedical engineering was so that I could help find solutions to medical problems occurring in under-developed nations. With all the medical advances that biomedical engineers create, it is surprising that millions of people around the world suffer from diseases that we can easily treat in the United States. The Engineering World Health (EWH) Summer Institute was the perfect stepping-stone for my future in global engineering projects.

What is the EWH Summer Institute? What did your work with the program involve?

The EWH Summer Institute allows students to work in a developing hospital as a biomedical engineering technician. The main goal for each student is to repair medical devices and equipment. Over the course of two months, my teammates and I were able to repair almost 30 different devices including infant incubators, blood pressure monitors, and even an x-ray machine for a hospital in Musanze, Rwanda.

A lot of the devices need repair because they are old donations from more developed hospitals. The dilapidated equipment does not always come with a manual, so students must troubleshoot and come up with creative ways to repair the device instead. In the case of the x-ray machine, my teammates and I were able to find a manual online; however, it was written entirely in Chinese. We were able to locate the problem in the power supply and were able to replace the burnt out components on the circuit board.

Each year, the different EWH Summer Institutes in Africa and South America help save over one million dollars in medical equipment. But even with so many different devices salvaged, it is difficult to make a lasting impact in just a couple months. To help resolve this, EWH motivates students to create a design project for their hospital. My teammates and I decided to make our hospital safer by installing a chaining mechanism in the oxygen tank storage room. Oxygen tanks are necessary for hospitals as they provide clean oxygen to patients who need help breathing. On the other hand, oxygen tanks can also be very dangerous as they are highly pressurized and can explode if they fall over. The hospital didn't have any mechanism to secure the oxygen tanks to the infrastructure, so the storage room was essentially a ticking time-bomb. Fortunately, we were able to secure the tanks and prevent a potential disaster. We also reorganized the technician workroom so that higher productivity could be achieved.

Were you able to explore Rwanda?

Even though Rwanda is one of the smallest countries in Africa, it is one of the most beautiful. Known as the land of a thousands hills, it had many different environments including a rainforest, a safari, a lake, and a multitude of volcanoes. During our trip we were fortunate enough to explore all that Rwanda had to offer. We hiked through the rainforest, saw zebras and giraffes on our safari, swam in the lake, and got to climb a volcano.

Are you glad you did it?

My summer in Rwanda with EWH was the most rewarding thing I have ever done. I learned so much about a different culture, about engineering, and about myself. By the end of the trip, I started to feel more like a Rwandan than a U.S. citizen. I learned so much about Rwandan history and had made so many new Rwandan friends. I had eaten their foods, stayed in their houses, and worked in their hospital. Furthermore, I was able to gain valuable experience in troubleshooting, which will be beneficial to my future career since troubleshooting is an important exercise in creativity and problem-solving.

Do you have a memory that stands out from your time in Rwanda?

Out of all the things we experienced, the most memorable one occurred on our last day. By then we had accomplished so much. We installed a dental chair, we fixed the x-ray machine, we bought new light-bulbs for the surgical lamps, and we secured all the oxygen tanks, but my most memorable repair was a wheelchair. We had finished our last day and were about to head home when a nurse hurried towards us and asked us to fix a wheelchair for his patient. The patient was an older woman with no legs who was holding a newborn baby. All we did was replace one of the wheels on the chair but the mother was extremely grateful and would not stop thanking us. It wasn't until then that I realized the impact of our work.