Last August, we told you how Brian Barker, an International Aid biomedical technician, traveled to Haiti to conduct hospital assessments and repair broken medical equipment at multiple hospitals. Earlier this month, we asked you to pray for safety and effectiveness in mission as Brian returned to island nation to train numerous employees at Bernard Mevs Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Today, we wanted to let you know that God answered our prayers by allowing Brian to safely make it to and from Haiti as well as train five technicians who are now able to maintain and repair many different types of the hospital’s medical equipment.

“It went better than I thought it would,” Brian said. “The people who were selected to be trained were incredibly enthusiastic and ready to learn.”

Of the five Haitian employees who were selected to participate in the program, three had mechanical repair training and one was a trained emergency medical technician. However, only one student had previously conducted repairs on the medical equipment used in hospitals.

When Brian arrived in Haiti, he gave the students equipment training kits and had them undergo five days of training. Much of this training involved circling around the hospital’s cafeteria tables as Brian taught them how to work on machines such as defibrillators, syringe pumps, battery chargers and suction machines. He also taught them how to solder and operate a voltmeter.

By the end of the week, the students had returned several repaired suction machines to the hospital’s emergency rooms. They also had used the parts from two broken EKG machines to create one functioning machine.

Brian said the program was successful because the students were so eager to learn. They worked hard during the sessions to learn the basics of biotechnical work, and often would stay past the allotted time in order to practice their technique.

Brian was also able to spend time fixing many of the hospitals seemingly unusable machines, including an anesthesia machine, surgical lights, suction machines, ventilators, monitors, EKG machines and more.

Thanks to all who kept Brian in their prayers as he traveled at the beginning of December, and praise be to God for the work He is doing at Bernard Mevs!