Its always fun until someone...

Part of being a missionary doctor means wearing many hats. A missionary surgeon/doctor in Bangladesh also happens to be an electrician, an IT guy, a mechanic, or whatever role is necessary to get a project done. There are several projects going on right now, and several more that would be going on if finances allowed.

(Jason, a surgeon, working on a "new" central suction machine. New in the US would cost in the $1000s. Made "new" from scratch Bengali style <$300.)

One project in particular has been the installation of automatic transfer switches for the hospital generators. The power capacity in Bangladesh is not able to meet the demand, and therefore the hospital only runs on national power about 30% of the time. The other 70% of the hospital demand is met by two huge generators. Until recently, every time the national power went out, a switch had to be manually flipped in order to bring the generators on circuit. This might not sound like a big deal. The kicker is that the switch lies just inches under a wire carrying about 300,000 volts of electricity, inside the generator. This means that one of the Darwans (guards) has to reach his hand into the generator about an arms length to flip the switch while avoiding complete vaporization from the looming cable just inches above. So, installing these automatic transfer switches is literally a life saving, or death preventing, project.

(This is one of the generators that supplies power to the hospital)

On a somewhat lighter note, Stephen Welch has taken on some more recreational projects in addition to his Doctor-ly duties. We have been working over the weekends on installing a zip line for the adults to satisfy their inner-adolescent.

(Nathan, a short-termer, tweaking the zip line)

(Stephen Welch, a med-peds doc/zip line architect, enjoying the fruits of his labor)

Also, the elementary school here does not have a playground. Therefore, Stephen has laid out some plans for some playground equipment. The see-saw is the first item to go live. Everyday since its inaguration, the see-saw has been covered in kids.

(trust me, there is a see-saw under there somewhere)

It has only taken a week and we have already, unfortunately, seen our first injury. A 10-year-old showed up in clinic this morning with a midshaft fracture of both his right radius and ulna. Not a big deal, but not awesome for him. It is awesome for Stephen, though, because lawyers in Bangladesh are few and far between!

(above is the unfortunate child's x-ray)