Engineering instructor Myron Hartman helped fix medical equipment in Liberia.
ESSAY COMPETITION FOR STUDENTS IN
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM
Students in the biomedical engineering technology program can earn a $500 award through a new essay competition.
Established by program coordinator Myron Hartman, the award is open to second-year students and the winning essay will be published by MD Publishing. Based in Peachtree City, Georgia, the company is an online source for dealers and manufacturers of medical and surgical equipment.
Hartman is on the editorial board for two of its magazines, Medical Dealer and TechNation. In addition, Hartman writes three articles a year for TechNation. His yearly stipend for the articles will fund the award.
Hartman recently returned the Republic of Liberia to repair medical equipment and train personnel at local hospitals. The trip has spawned a collaborative program to send a Liberian technician to the United States in the summer to develop and maintain skills under Hartman. The technician will be able to acquire the knowledge to teach his fellow technicians at the Liberian hospitals.
For more on Hartman and the BET program, visit http://www.nk.psu.edu/43722.htm online.
Myron Hartmnan , left, will train Prince, a Liberian technician, on campus during the summer.
DEVELOPING
SUMMER TRAINING PROGRAM FOR LIBERIA HOSPITALS
Biomedical program coordinator travels to Liberia to train hospital technicians
Myron Hartman, program coordinator for the Biomedical Engineering Technology (BET) program at Penn State New Kensington, recently traveled to the Republic of Liberia to repair medical equipment and train personnel at local hospitals.
Based out of the village of Ganta in northeast Liberia, Hartman worked at the United Methodist Hospital with technicians from other local hospitals and provided hands-on training on a variety of equipment including anesthesia gas machines, blood pressure monitors, electrosurgical units, oxygen concentrators, physiological monitors and x-ray machines. The trip was the first step in establishing a training program for the Liberian technicians.
"The technicians I worked with wanted to learn as much as they could during my stay at each hospital" said Hartman, an instructor in engineering in the campus' Engineering department. "I am looking forward to a return trip and several students are interested in going with me to do work on the medical equipment."
As BET coordinator at the campus, Hartman oversees a program that is known for producing well-qualified and knowledgeable technicians. Biomedical technicians tasks include inspections, calibration, troubleshooting and equipment repair. New Kensington's program is one of only three in the nation to be accredited by the Technology Accreditation Commission for the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. The program's facilities include a fully-equipped student Intensive Care Unit (ICU) laboratory that is one of only two in the United States.
Hartman's trip was sponsored by United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), a nonprofit global humanitarian aid organization of the United Methodist Church. Headquartered in New York, UMCOR is established in more than 80 countries, and Brother's Brother foundation, a Pittsburgh-based international charity, has provided over $3.4 billion of medical supplies, textbooks, food, seeds, and other humanitarian supplies to people around the world in over 140 countries.
"I am an active member of the Circleville United Methodist Church, so it was a natural fit for being a sponsor for my trip," said, Hartman, a 1979 Penn State graduate and member of the campus' first BET graduating class. "I have done work for the BBF for the past twenty years and my BET students do volunteer work for them such as checking donated medical equipment before it is loaded on to containers for shipment to hospitals throughout the world."
Plans are underway to send a Liberian technician to the United States in the summer to develop and maintain skills under Hartman. The technician will be able to acquire the knowledge to teach his fellow technicians at the Liberian hospitals.
"I am developing a proposal to have a maintenance technician live in my house this summer,'" said Hartman, who holds a master's degree in Health Services Administration from St. Francis University. "I will train him on electricity, electronics and medical equipment support, and teach him to teach others."
Liberia, located on the west coast of Africa, was founded in 1822 by freed slaves from America, and is home to 3.5 million people, of which 85 percent are Christian. After a history of military coups and civil wars, democratic elections were held in 2005, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected president, the position she currently holds. The capital is Monrovia and English is the official language. The country is one of the poorest in the world, and is reliant on foreign assistance for revenue. While security is still fragile, the process of rebuilding the social and economic structure of this war-torn country continues.
For more on the BET program, visit http://www.nk.psu.edu/Academics/Degrees/bet.html online.