Medical Missions

L-R: David Harrington, PhD, and Sam Downing, CEO, Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System, Salinas, Calif, mount a monitor.

L-R: Nurse Dottie Harrington and Ray Schmitt, Assist International, set up a Philips bedside monitor in the emergency room.

During a biomedical mission trip to India in 1992, David Harrington, PhD, a health care consultant from Medway, Mass, heard the venerable Mother Theresa speak an inspiring phrase to him that he has never forgotten: “Helping others is the greatest thing a person can do with their life.” Harrington had traveled all the way to Kolkata (Calcutta) to assist local biomeds install and repair equipment in a hospital that cared for the city’s poor and neglected.

Missions abroad bring dedicated health care workers from all sectors together to assist those in less fortunate parts of the world achieve better standards of health care, one facility at a time. Every year, BMETs and clinical engineers routinely donate equipment, expertise, and time to installing and repairing medical equipment throughout the world.

It is in this spirit of helping others, inspired by Mother Theresa and health care missionaries everywhere, that Harrington and a team assembled by Assist International, Scotts Valley, Calif, ventured to the heart of Transylvania one Halloween to take part in a memorable install at a children’s hospital in Cluj, Romania. Harrington recalls his experiences installing some badly needed monitoring equipment. His story follows:

Like much of the world, the hospital was a mixture of old and new. The front part of the emergency room was open, airy, and as modern as most here in the US. However, going through the doors to the back of the ER was like stepping back 50 years.

We added monitors, connecting them to a central station so all the beds could be seen from a central point. While some of the crew worked on the ER, others worked on the surgical IC unit, located in another building.

Not uncommonly, the unit had no monitors and no central communication point. We also learned that the operating rooms did not have monitors, either. As the crew worked unpacking the equipment that was shipped, others prepared for the install. Still others pulled wires, drilled holes in the walls, and put up wall brackets to mount the monitors on.

We started on a Friday, worked some of Saturday, came back on Monday, and had the units up and running on Tuesday. We installed and wired a total of 18 monitors in that time frame while the units still had patients in them. Both Brad Carrott, senior administrative director of biomedical services, Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System, Salinas, Calif, and Joe Daco, a field service person from Philips, worked very hard to make sure things went well.

Left: In Cluj, Romania, Brad Carrott pulling cables, which shows how high the rooms were. Right: On a mission trip to Hungary, Carrott works on a Philips system.

You could not ask for better people on an installation, and we all made sure that the local biomeds were very involved during the installation. The training staff also did a great job of preparing the nurses and physicians on the correct use of the monitors. At the end of the installation, everyone was comfortable that the equipment would both be properly used and maintained.

On the same trip, Harrington also decided to revisit a cardiac hospital in the same city, where he had volunteered in 1991, with his friend Bob Pagett, founder and president of Assist International:

The staff there was happy to see us and, strange as it may seem, one of the physicians still had a new corncob pipe I had presented to him on our last trip, when I was still smoking. There were several problems there that Brad and Joe helped correct before leaving Cluj early on Thursday morning. As we were walking back to the children’s hospital, Bob mentioned that Assist International has done over 80 projects in 45 countries and they could not have done any of them without the support and the on-site, hands-on efforts of the biomeds and clinical engineers. Bob estimated that some 40 BMETs and CEs have gone out with Assist over the years. If you combine that number with all the others who have traveled with other groups, it becomes a significant percentage of our very small profession.

While most experiences are overwhelmingly positive, mission work does not come without its pitfalls. During his many trips abroad, Carrott has braved everything from working on badly damaged equipment that has fallen out of an airplane to the sometimes very real danger of electric shock, and warns that mission work may not be for everyone. But for those willing to brave the dangers and the sometimes stressfully long days, the rewards—much like the memories made—will speak for themselves.

In Cluj, Romania, Brad Carrott pulling cables.

On a previous trip to Hungary, nurses began working at a critical care bed immediately after it was installed.

Like Harrington, Carrot has a similar passion for using his skills to make a difference. He has been assisting biomeds on missions abroad for decades, having traveled everywhere from Africa to Mongolia, always eager to tackle a new adventure. Carrott is full of stories, which have left him with not only enough friends and experiences to last a lifetime, but also with a new appreciation for his profession and the dedication of his fellow biomeds.

“The people we meet are very talented; they just don’t have the money or the resources we do,” Carrott says. “A lot of doctors in these countries trained in the United States or in France. When they return to their countries, they go from being able to see patients’ respirations, heart rates, and blood pressures to having to watch their skin color or the color of their lips.”

Lending a Hand

Generally, medical mission trips usually require a 2-week minimum commitment, and interested biomeds should be prepared to use their own personal time off and pay their own expenses, which are generally tax deductible. Above all, biomeds should come prepared to work, and Carrott makes no secret of the stress these trips can often bring. “These are long hours,” he says. “Because, when you’re done, everything has to be up and running, and it has to be done safely.”

Not surprisingly, biomeds with well-rounded technical skills and experience with a variety of equipment are often in high demand. The greatest asset on a mission trip, however, is most often a good communicator. In addition to repairing and installing equipment, biomeds on missions must also make sure that they are leaving the equipment in capable hands by teaching local biomeds how to make repairs and keep up the preventive maintenance.

The bottom line, according to Carrott, for any who still need convincing: “You will be making a difference. Lives will be saved because of the work you do.”

Stephen Noonoo is associate editor of 24×7. Contact him at .

An ICU in Cluj, Romania, receives its first infant warmer.	L-R: In Cluj, Romania, Dave Kasting, MD, and Sharon Roberts, RN, both of Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System, prepare their in-services for the medical staff at the hospital. In the background, PR representative for Salinas, Sue Marscel.