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Project Details

Created: 01/13/2008

Project Title: Solar Autoclave

Project Category: Engineering & Technology

Project Status: Ongoing

CASE Competition

CASE Competition: ServiceBook Monthly - January 2008

Grant Winner

Project Snapshot

Problem: Designing and constructing solar autoclaves to sterilize medical instruments in rural health clinics in Nicaragua

Solution: The Solar Autoclave project will provide rural health clinics in Nicaragua the ability to sterilize medical instruments. Currently, staff working in clinics without electricity must travel many miles to the nearest health center in order to have instruments sterilized. Their production will be expanded to include the solar autoclaves, thus increasing local economic opportunities.

Student Information

College or University: University of Dayton

State: Ohio

Student Name: Lori Hanna

Year in College: Senior

Major: Mechanical Engineering

Faculty Advisor

Advisor Name: Dr. Margaret Pinnell

Community Partner

Partner Name: Susan Kinne

Student and Community

Section 2

(not more than one paragraph for your response)

What societal problem does your project solve?

Rural health clinics in Nicaragua need a way to sterilize medical instruments on site. Presently, clinical nurses must travel with instruments to the nearest health center to be sterilized. This is a time-consuming and expensive process that oftentimes happens too infrequently. If the clinic has multiple births or surgeries in one week and only has one set of instruments, they are forced to send the patients away or use contaminated instruments. Solar autoclaves would allow small clinics who do not have access to electricity to sterilize instruments on site.

What would be the measurable outcomes of the partnership that you propose to create between the community and your educational institution?

The results of my project will hopefully be a functional, inexpensive, accessible solar autoclave design; a self-sustainable business that produces solar autoclaves; and an example that other organizations can follow in order to implement similar appropriate technologies.

How would you, with the support of your faculty advisor on campus and some one from the community, work together around this specified community issue?

This project involves the research, design, testing, and prototyping of a solar autoclave. This will be followed by the creation of a business plan and the implementation of the business plan with the women's group in the Nicaraguan community. This will involve trips to Sabana Grande.

Section 3

(not more than one paragraph for your response)

How would you envision sharing power and decision making in the partnership? In other words, instead of doing something for the community how would you do something with the community?

The local community of Sabana Grande, Nicaragua and Grupo Fenix will assist in the research and development of the autoclave. The community partner and the students already collaborated during summer 2007 to conduct interviews among health professionals throughout rural Nicaragua. During summer 2008, students and members of the community will conduct research.

How would you collect data on what the project was doing and use it in the decision making process?

During summer 2008, we will test prototypes for the autoclave in actual conditions, along with the Nicaraguan clinic nurses. This will allow us to make design decisions. We will also learn about ease-of-use for the nurses and cultural acceptance.

Section 4

(not more than one paragraph for your response)

What would be the project activities? Give examples of how the strengths already existing in the community will be acknowledged, built upon, and enhanced in the partnership to solve the problem.

Las Mujeres Solares de Totogalpa (a women's group in Sabana Grande, Nicaragua) currently are able to produce 30-40 solar cookers per month. We will expand production capabilities to include a solar autoclave that functions inside the solar cooker and keep the current rate of production. This venture will greatly enhance the local economy by providing the women with income and utilizing local skills and materials.

Section 5

(not more than one paragraph for your response)

What obstacles or challenges might you encounter in implementing your project, and how would you address them?

We may run into challenges in implementation. For example, we may have legal issues with selling the autoclaves to donors who donate them to rural clinics. Health care is socialized in Nicaragua, so we imagine that any new devices must be approved by the Ministry of Health. This is all to be researched this semester, and any necessary requirements will be met either this spring or summer.

Section 6

(not more than one paragraph for your response)

Recruiting Volunteers:
Would you recruit additional student volunteers? If so, how?

Additional students have been recruited to assist in writing a business plan for the sale of the solar autoclaves. Students have also been recruited to help with the design of the autoclave.

Enlisting Partners:
Do you envision enlisting businesses, or other organizations, etc., to help; if so, how?

Through a donor model, philanthropic investor organizations will finance solar autoclave cookers which will be manufactured and distributed to the clinics of Nicaragua by Las Mujeres Solares. The University of Dayton School of Business and School of Engineering are also helping.

Section 7

(not more than one paragraph for your response)

How would the award money be used here?
If your project idea is an innovation of an existing program, what are its current funding sources?

The Grant money will be used for testing and prototyping supplies during research and development of the autoclave, especially in-country. It will also be used for transportation in-country for our community partners. The women's group has little available cash for such ventures, so we will need to pay for any transportation/lodging needed for them during implementation of the project.