Take a day off, help save a life

Do you have a mission when out on the greens? We invite you to join ours!

Monday, September 26, 2011
The Bridgewater Club, 3535 E. 161st St., Carmel, IN
11 a.m.: Lunch & Registration
Noon: Shotgun Start
5 p.m.: Reception & Awards

Join us for TriMedx Foundation‘s 2011 Mission On The Greens golf outing, the Foundation’s main fundraising event. Our golfers enjoy lunch prior to a shotgun start and a traveling beverage cart, followed by a reception and brief award ceremony. Last year’s event raised a record $51,000 for medical missions.

This year’s event will be hosted by The Bridgewater Club in Carmel, set in a beautiful, private housing community. For more information on the course, you can visit their website at thebridgewaterclub.com.

All event profits go directly to missions, enabling TriMedx Foundation to improve healthcare in impoverished communities by repairing broken medical equipment in mission hospitals and clinics and educating locals to perform basic equipment repair functions.

Please mark your calendar now and plan to join us on September 26th. Event registration, volunteering and other details will come your way soon! If you have any questions about this event or TriMedx Foundation in the meantime, please comment below or contact me at mary.owens@trimedxfoundation.org.

All the best,

Mary Owens
Development Director, TriMedx Foundation
mary.owens@trimedxfoundation.org
(317) 275-1555

Small actions, big impact

Ever wonder what happens with dollars donated to TriMedx Foundation?

“Hi, how are U? the costomAir machine in ICU doesn’t stabilize. What can I do to fix it. I’m waiting for you, co it’s a emergency.”

Joseph Rivière, a BMET trainee at Hôpital Sacré Coeur (HSC) in Haiti, posed this question in an email to TriMedx Foundation Volunteer Mike Hoyt, a clinical engineer with St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, Ind. A couple of replies later, Rivière fired off his final message:

“Think you very much, I just follow your instruction and I repaired [the equipment].”

And so a patient who might have been sent home without proper care got the help he or she needed. Such is the impact of TriMedx Foundation volunteers and donors. Day after day, donations to TriMedx Foundation continue to make a difference:

“Hi, we find a good pleasure to talk to you about BIOMED tech project at HSC from Milot. For this month we’ve learn many things and have a lot of information about the equipments in the Hospital. Please, ask the trainer James Fanfan to come down again. Cos we think it very successful.” Joseph Rivière & Denis Alce, HSC 

“We continue to look forward to the wonderful opportunity that our technicians are gaining through this program.” Tim Traynor, HSC

 “hi Mary, how you doing? I’m denis Alce a student in biomed tech i’m in training now in hospital sacre coeur in milot of haiti i would like to keep touch with you. Gods bless.” Denis Alce, HSC

  “Hi Mary, Many thanks … We are very grateful for the help and support of TriMedx.” Denise Kelly, The CRUDEM Foundation Inc. 

Ever wonder what happens with dollars donated to TriMedx Foundation? Now you know: 100% of your donated dollars go straight to the mission field, whether it’s sending technicians to repair broken equipment or equipping local hospitals to maintain that equipment after we’re gone.

Please take a moment to help us spread the word. Thank you, again, for helping us extend hope and health to hurting families around the world.

All the best,

Mary Owens
Development Director
TriMedx Foundation
mary.owens@trimedxfoundation.org
(317) 275-1555

Seeing Your Impact First Hand

TriMedx Foundation Volunteer Gary Lindquist of Genesys Regional Medical Center (Michigan) works with biomed trainees at Hôpital Sacré Coeur.

Whether you fly to distant nations, help ready medical equipment for deployment, contribute financially or tell your peers about the work of TriMedx Foundation, your support is making a significant, life-changing impact around the world. Together, we’re able to deliver critical technology and training to poverty-stricken communities like Milot, Haiti.

Take our Biomed Training Pilot Project, for example: TriMedx Foundation Volunteer Gary Lindquist recently led a series of on-site biomed training courses at Hôpital Sacré Coeur(Milot, Haiti). Gary reinforced the

New Supply Warehouse at Hôpital Sacré Coeur.

instruction given by Melissa Hendricks the previous month, then helped trainees establish a local, functioning clinical engineering department.

Gary and his trainees began each morning with rounds and conversations with nurses in charge of each department. Gary has worked hard to stress the importance of good communication with the nursing staff.

Gary shares, “While on the rounds, the team removed several pieces of non-functioning equipment and repaired several devices in the hospital. During the week, a child’s life was actually saved by one of the repaired pediatric ventilators we installed.“

Aspirators serviced at the Repair Center and redeployed to Hôpital Sacré Coeur.

One added challenge to establishing a biomed department is ensuring supplies and replacement parts are available in a timely fashion. To that end, a new general supply warehouse and inventory software are now up and running. The complete organization of the warehouse will take some time, but the process has started.

One of Gary’s highlights was seeing TriMedx Foundation Repair Center tags on equipment they were installing. “Seeing medical equipment repaired and redeployed by TriMedx Foundation now in use at Haiti is very rewarding. It reinforces that our work is making a difference!“

Again, this is all made possible through the generosity of people like you. Please take a moment to help us spread the word . Thank you, again, for helping us extend hope and health to hurting families around the world.

Gary Lindquist to Train Locals in Haiti

Gary Lindquist speaks to NBC25 of Michigan.

Gary Lindquist, a TriMedx clinical engineer at Genesys Regional Medical Center in Michigan, heads to Haiti this Saturday to train locals on diagnosing and fixing medical equipment.

“Just from what I’ve heard and saw pictures of their willingness to learn, that’s encouraging,” he shares with a local TV news program. “The amount of people we’ll be able to help keeping this medical equipment up and running is amazing. People travel for days for medical care, and if they don’t have the equipment running, they need to diagnose the problem. Otherwise it’s a waste of a trip for them.”

Gary’s trip is part of the TriMedx Foundation’s Mission Lifecycle Program, designed to establish clinical engineering departments in each hospital.

Volunteer Update: Mission Lifecycle Program’s First Classroom Session

Last month, Melissa Hendricks, senior BMET III of St. Luke’s (Jacksonville, Fla.) and Merrill Brown, TriMedx Foundation‘s mission projects manager, left for St. Boniface Hospital in Fond des Blancs, Haiti.

When they arrived on January 31, five students were waiting for them, ready to learn. The Haitian students were selected by St. Boniface and Hôpital Sacré Coeur in Milot as a part of TriMedx Foundation’s Mission Lifecycle Program, designed to establish clinical engineering departments in each hospital.

The program’s goal is to keep the hospital’s medical equipment up and running on a consistent basis. To that end, the program will cover medical terminology, enabling hospital staffers to respond to equipment failures and communicate the make, model and nature of the failure.

Melissa instructed the students on AC/DC power currents, use of a voltage meter, and why proper input voltage is important to equipment operations. Following classroom exercises included included cleaning and learning the name of each device, how it is used by a doctor, and familiarity with tools of the trade.

In the afternoons, Melissa showed the students how to perform repair and preventative maintenance rounds, ensuring each device remains in working condition.

Next, Gary Lindquist of Genesys Regional Medical Center in Michigan will serve on the March Mission Lifecycle trip to Hôpital Sacré Coeur in Milot. Gary will reinforce prior instruction and present each student with his own bag of tools.

If you’d like to volunteer for a mission trip, we invite you to read about upcoming opportunities here. Thanks again for your support!

Volunteer for upcoming mission projects

Dear Friends,

Our first IT class in Milot: Volunteer Joe Parmentier trains local staffers on how to terminate cables for the new wifi system.

For the first time ever, the TriMedx Foundation is impacting two hospitals in one trip: Hôpital Sacré Coeur in Milot, and St. Boniface Hospital in Fond des Blancs (both in Haiti). Not only will we maximize resources and opportunities for these impoverished communities, we will do so on an on-going basis throughout 2011. That’s where you come in.

Each month, TriMedx Foundation will send one associate biomedical specialist to train local technicians at these two hospitals. To qualify for training, nationals must have the ability to read, write and speak English.

Training topics will be determined by the volunteer available for the trip. (This month Melissa Hendricks of St. Luke’s Hospital in Jacksonville, FL, will travel to St. Boniface to provide repair and hands-on training for RSQ and basic troubleshooting.) Whatever the topic, focus will be on key mission hospital functions such as lab, anesthesia, EKG, blood pressure and imaging.

If you have the knowledge, ability and desire to teach, please contact Merrill Brown to discuss open dates.

Upcoming Mission Project Dates:

• March 6-12
• April 3-9
• May 1-7
• June 5-11
• July 3-9
• August 7-13
• September 4-10
• October 2-8
• November 6-12
• December 4-10

Interested in volunteering? Contact Merrill Brown at merrill.brown@trimedxfoundation.org or (317) 275-5544.

Thank you in advance for your willingness to serve.

Celebrating 12 years of hope & health in Haiti

Twelve years ago, TriMedx volunteers responded to a plea by Sister Martha Barlai-Kovach of CRUDEM, relaying the urgent need for working medical equipment at Hôpital Sacré Coeur in Milot, Haiti. It was then, in 1999, that our mission of hope began. Without working medical equipment, mission hospitals like Hôpital Sacré Coeur lack the tools to perform some of the most basic life-saving procedures.

And so in 2004 the TriMedx Foundation was formed to meet this need around the world. Since then, TriMedx Foundation has been a primary resource to Hôpital Sacré Coeur in providing healthcare equipment, technology training and support.

In 2011, we’re launching monthly training trips to both Hôpital Sacré Coeur and St. Boniface Hospital in Haiti. Having impacted more than one million lives to date, our goal remains to equip poverty-stricken communities to safeguard the health of its families, long after we’re gone.

We invite you to celebrate with us by taking a moment to view a three-minute preview of “Angels of Milot: Haiti’s Aftershock” above–a PBS documentary highlighting the lives impacted at Hôpital Sacré Coeur. It is through support given to TriMedx Foundation that we are able to equip medical missions like Hôpital Sacré Coeur, ensuring lives are saved through vital medical equipment.

We thank you for your time and support, and wish you a blessed 2011.

Warm regards,

Mary Owens
Development Director
TriMedx Foundation
mary.owens@trimedx.com

Big Rocks First

Over the years, I’ve come across a simple illustration that never fails to give me a shot of clarity and help get my priorities in order. Perhaps you’ve seen this too.

It goes like this: Someone drops a handful of large rocks into a jar. Just when you think the jar is full, they drop in a bunch of pebbles. “Now this thing’s really packed,” you think. Wrong.

Next comes a cup full of sand, which quickly seeps into the nooks and crannies between the rocks. You might even be able to add a cup of water.

What’s the point? The workaholics among us might say you can always fit in another activity, right? Wrong again, friend.

The point is this: If you don’t get the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in.

What are the big rocks in your life? And how does giving to those in need–impacting lives–fit into your jar?

Cheers

Andrea Emerson
[Marketing Consultant, AH Holdings]

Wifi (and life) connections

Our volunteers work to install new wifi at Hôpital Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart Hospital) in Milot, Nord, Haiti.

Greater Things

One of my recurring prayers is “God, help me to see what You see and feel what You feel.”

So this past Sunday, I was overcome with emotion as the congregation belted out “God of This City.”

Greater things have yet to come; greater things are still to be done in this city. Greater things have yet to come; and greater things are still to be done here.

Whether in Haiti, Africa, or just down the street, scores of people desperately need to be shown love… and that starts with having their basic needs met.

I hope you’ll join me in praying for our volunteers in Haiti, and also praying for opportunities for you and I to show love to someone today.

Ps: Oh, and here’s that song. Someone did a nifty Haiti-themed montage around it:

Cheers,

Andrea Emerson