;)
Doctors on Demand
Tuesday, February 19, 2013 at 9:17PM Early on in the project we were dubbed the “maximalists” for taking on issues of mobile healthcare at a large scale. Not having been to Haiti, it was very helpful working with Aaron Brown and Lauren Metts, who had a great sense of the landscape as well as the culture. We started by looking at ambulances/fire trucks and customizing it to fit our needs for a mobile medical unit. However, the unpredictable roads in Haiti would have made it difficult to justify our reasoning for this design. So instead we looked at the idea of a dump truck, or a system where a truck drops off a unit for an extended period of time then retrieves it when more supplies are needed. This way, the units could function as extensions of a hospital in Haiti and get medical treatment closer those in rural areas.
Luckily, Aaron Brown has an extensive knowledge of the technical aspects of these trucks (which is still pretty unfamiliar to me). Basically, the unit would leave the hospital compacted, dropped off at a particular location, then expanded to create three separate observation areas, one interior and two exterior. The exterior spaces are shaded by RV-like awnings that extend from the unit. There is enough storage for all medical needs, as well as tools and staff storage. Ventilation was also an important issue we addressed by leaving openings at the bottom and top of each unit.
One of the strengths of our project was how we incorporated it into the culture. Like the Tap Taps seen all over the country, we decided that the units could be painted by the locals or possibly with educational information so that the objects do not seem so foreign. Our project was designed for healthcare providers to stay for extended periods of time. However, one of the weaknesses of our project was the sleeping arrangement. While we had incorporated beds into our design, realistically this would not be very comfortable for the doctors and nurses. Overall, I think we had a really strong idea that could have been taken even further with more time.
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