Service Journals
These Journals are composed of my thoughts, concerns, and experiences I went through my service part of my project.
Journal #1 - Dr. Campozana Physical Therapy Consulting Office
December 22, 2014
After various months of searching for a place to do my service part, I finally found a physical therapy consulting office where I can attend people with injuries that might have led to a missing limb. My concern is that I won't be able to help much because I am not a professional or a medical student, also because there are not actually people with a missing limb. I went to Dr. Patricia Campozano office to talk to her in orde to see in what way I could help out. First of all, she was very polite and really did seem like she was willing to help me succed in my service project. After leaving her office, I felt really eager and grateful to be doing this, because I wasn't only going to helping out, but most of all I would be gaining working experience and medical assistance experience.
Journal #2 - Concerns in the Consulting Office after a couple of weeks.
January 18, 2015
I have officially started my service project and have already gone two weeks to the consulting office for 3 hours each day. I started of working as a secretary, doing the paperwork and started to get to know the patients. At first I though it was the right position to start with, since all of this was new to me I would have to see how the office works and get to know the people. After couple of days were going by I started to start to wonder if I would ever leave the secretary position and start working with the patients, all my communication with them were, "Welcome" and "Thank You." I wasn't doing much and most of all I wasn't helping anyone in need. Besides, the schedule of working there was getting tougher and tougher, I would have to leave school at 4 and work until 7. They didn't work either Saturdays or Sundays. Meaning that I was getting behind in school work and exhaustin myself even more. Yes, I was experiencing working, but I wasn't really doing service.
Journal #3 - Talking to Ms. Yangali and Leaving the Consulting Office
January 22, 2015
I realized that I wasn't really doing any service in this consulting office so I talked to Ms. Yangali to know what I should do. She told me that it would be better if I found somewhere else to do my service, because like I told her, I was only being a secretary, a "service" that did not comply with my project. I took her advice and went to talk to Dr. Campozano and told her that I would no longer going to help her because I had to go in search for another service project that I could actually help someone in need. This was extremely dissapointing and stressing for me because after these months I feel like many people have disregarded me and haven't been able to help me, putting me behind in the schedule and limiting my time. My future plans is to go talk to my Mentor and see if he has been able to contact some people or fundacions that can help me find a place to do my service. In other news, the prototype of the 3D printed prosthetic is almost ready to be printed, and then I will be able to print the definite one and donate the hand to someone in need.
Journal #4 - Meeting Juan Andres Lopez
Feb 20, 2015
During the month of February, I have been looking for someone to donate the Prosthetic Hand to, in order to imply my research and put in physical my project. I have contacted various people outside of school to see if they knew someone who needed a hand, and unfortunetly I received no response. I even tried to ask my mentor, and even though he previously had told me he knew people, he couldn't find anyone. So I decide to stay in the IAA Community, I went to talk to Mr. Nonnenkamp to see how I could approach the community and ask for help. He told me to write a letter, but it was going to be a little risky, because if I received various answers, I could only choose one, letting the other people down. I took the risk and hoped for the best. I couple days past, and thankfully Mrs. Caballero, had a worker who needed a hand. We talked for a couple of days and arranged a meeting with him in the school. He came and I showed him the type of prosthetic I would be donating him. He told me that he has been living without a limb for more than 15 years. He lost his hand during work, and because he did not like to wear the current ceramic prosthetics they gave him, he decided to not wear any. He seemed really joyfull that I would be donating him the hand. I took some pictures and measured the diameter of his knuckle. After this I started working on the scale of the hand and trying to enhance the prosthetic to benefit him in his needs. He told me, he wanted a comfortable hand, and that would not be to big. So I started designing the hand based on his needs.
Journal #4 - S.E.R.L.I
April 7, 2015
I was finally granted some time in S.E.R.L.I, in previous times that I have come to ask some questions, they have been to busy with work and patients so they have told me to come back another day. This time they told me that they would help me anyway possible and that I could help in the Physical Therapy part, because the type of prosthetics they made were mostly for legs and lateral legs. They did not have the money or the resources to make hands, much like all the other places around Ecuador. Also they told me that there isn't a Fundacion in Guayaquil that focuses on liable people and prosthetic, which is why I couldn't find a place to do my service. So throughout the month of March and mainly in Easter Break, I helped as much as possible. There working hours were from 8 am to 12 pm, so I couldn't go during school hours, which made my schedule more difficult. During Easter Break, I went the whole week for the 4 hours. At first I was able to go to the "Protesis and Ortosis" lab, where workers constructed the legs and lateral legs. I was able to ask some questions and see how they were constructed. Obvioulsy, they were really different than the ones I was used to seeing. In this opportunity I was able to meet Daisy Zambrano, a girl that has been through a lot with only 3 years of age. She really impacted me, in the way that being so young, she was happy and although her limitations she still had high hopes. The other days I helped out the patients in physical rehabilitacion. It was very rewarding to see how they improved and got better as the days passed. Most importantly, they were very grateful for my service as well. When classes started again, I had to conclude my service because the hours were now impossible to work in.
Journal #6 - Donating the Prosthetic Hand
May 13, 2015
After various weeks of trying to contact my mentor, Ralph Suastegui, he completely shut me off. I really wanted to conclude my project and finish the whole purpose of my Service Project, which was donating the hand and drastically changing the life of someone in need. I was thinking of every possibility that I could do, and since Ralph was the only person with a 3D printer of whom I could use, my opportunities were very limited. Luckily, the school had recently purchaed a 3D printer, so with the help of Mrs. Aguirre, we talked to the IT Department, and they were more than happy to help me with my project. So as fast as possible in order to save the time that I lost, I printed the parts that I needed in order to modify the final hand from the prototype. Then another communication problem occurred, Juan Andres Lopez, the man who I was donanting the hand too, was not responding my calls, so I decided to contact the mom from the school that presented him. She was able to get his bosses phone number, and with that I told him that I was going to go all the way to Milagro in order to test and see how the hand fits. When I arrived he was very anxious to see the hand, this was a whole different prosthetic that he was used to. Usually the prosthetic that he sees are made of ceramic and are unmoveble, unlike the other ones, this 3D printing prosthetic was a whole new world of possibilities since it was extremely lightweight and could even bring him a movement of the fingers. Although the fit wasn't exactly perfect, he was very glad and thankful for my help, I really felt like I was helping him and changing his life, I would now have to print the gauntlet again in a bigger size. This would conclude my Service portion of my project, and I have to say I am proud and satisfied because I was able to greatly impact a man's life and bring him the helping hand he deserves.