Posted on 20 May, 2013

This post is by Michael Were, Manager of OHI.

Biomedical Engineering caused a few headaches in the lead up to this trip. Our normal Mr. Fix-it, Jono, was unable to make it this year and when his replacement had to withdraw a week before the trip, things were looking grim.

After a few SOS calls, Frankie’s boss came to him with an offer that went along the lines of “Frankie. I have a job for you. Go to PNG with Operation Open Heart. The catch is you are going in 2 days time, and you have 2 hours to say yes”. And when he did say yes shortly after Frankie became the newest biomed and member of the team.

Since arriving, he has certainly be been busy – setting up two ICU’s, responding to equipment glitches, and finding time to respond to everyone’s request for a Mr. Fix-it.

Sister Eunice, the local theatre nursing manager, was exceptionally happy when he was able to fix Image Intensifier. The theatre team however was not so amused when he advised that the coffee machine was beyond repair.

Biomedical Engineer in PNG, new member Frankie