TechNation Biomed Adventures: Flying Eye Repair

Last year, TechNation told the story of a biomed who lived and worked on a hospital ship. Surgeries were performed on that ship by the thousands. We also told the story of a group of biomed students who outfitted a bus with medical equipment to help people in Ghana. There is another unique environment that has tested the skills of HTM professionals with a sense for adventure; an aircraft where eye surgeries are performed.

That’s right, a Flying Eye Hospital operated by a nonprofit called ORBIS. ORBIS works to prevent and treat blindness through hands-on training, public health education, improved access to quality eye care, advocacy and partnerships with local healthcare organizations.

Matt Du Vall, area service manager for Biomedical Equipment Services in Meridian, Idaho, wasn’t thinking about flying eye hospitals when he first learned that they needed someone with his skills.

“Looking for work, I went to a job agency. When I sat down with the person to review my skills, I told him I was a biomed tech,” Du Vall remembers. “He said he had heard of that and knew of a group that had biomedical engineers; that was ORBIS. He knew of ORBIS because he was a flight mechanic on the DC-8 (the organization’s original aircraft). The flight mechanics and biomeds share the same area on the craft.”

“He made a phone call and they needed biomedical engineers, but a certified technician would do. That was in late July of 1998,” Du Vall adds. “After a few phone interviews, by mid-September, I was in Mansted, England, learning about the DC-10 and the equipment on it.”

ORBIS’s DC-10 had been used for three years when Du Vall made his first trip with the organization. The plane is a mobile teaching hospital used for surgeries, classes and lectures. Lectures are also offered in local eye hospitals. Buses ferry the ORBIS crew from the plane to the local hospital.

ORBIS visits developing countries and provides hands-on training to eye health professionals around the world.

Southeast Asia bound

Du Vall discovered that his time with ORBIS was one way to see the world.

“From September of 1998 to November 1999, I had been on 15 programs to about 19 cities,” he says.

He spent time in three cities in China, three cities in India, he visited Syria, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, the Philippines, Burma and Bangladesh.

“I had also spent time in England, Hong Kong (and) France for preparation and training,” he says. “I was also able to do some touring (in) China — Dazhuo, Beijing, (and) Xi’an.”

One of the benefits of having an experienced HTM professional on the flights is to teach and train the local biomeds in the locations where the Flying Eye Hospital visits. Du Vall found a few challenges along the way, but also found this part of the program very beneficial to local eye care professionals. He discovered an appreciation for what he learned in return.

“The biggest obstacles were language and repair supplies needed in a short time,” he says.” I learned so much from those that were there doing so much with so little and was able to reciprocate some. I was able to show them how to repair and/or clean slit lamps and surgical microscopes. By teaching them how to do those things, it gave them the confidence to assert themselves and do the needed repairs.”

“My predecessor left ORBIS one biomedical engineer short. That was the opening I stepped into in September of 1998. The reason I had a chance to go back was the current biomedical engineer was very ill,” he explains. “He happened to replace me when I left.”

Du Vall’s second tour with the Flying Eye Hospital was in 2011.

“My second stint was short, just 10 weeks,” he says. “I was sent to Indonesia-Surabaya on the island of Java, Hue City and Da Nang in Vietnam, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Kathmandu in Nepal, Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia and Vancouver, Canada, then to L.A for some time to prep for the next program.”

“I worked and trained on how to repair everything they needed fixed. Anesthesia units, slit lamps surgical microscopes, phaco (ultrasound) systems, laser units — YAG and diode, sterilizers and oxygen concentrators,” he says.

“I saw old equipment in great shape and makeshift equipment that made me shiver. I only worked on equipment they asked me to work on. When I did, I had a local biomed there to learn how it worked and showed them how to troubleshoot for problems,” he adds. “Most of the manuals they had where in English. Like I said, language was a problem.”

Acquiring a Skill Set

Du Vall first heard about the biomedical field while a student at the Phoenix Institute of Technology. He realized that it fit the bill for someone like him interested in the electronics field. When he returned home to French Camp, Calif., he volunteered at a local hospital. The hospital had two biomeds on staff and one left to work for an ultrasound company. That left an opening for Du Vall, who stayed there for two years and received some valuable on-the-job training.

He further honed his skill set during 15 years at San Joaquin General Hospital. His areas of specialty while there were critical care and respiratory. In his current job as an area service manager for Biomedical Equipment Services, he is the lead technician and does training, servicing, interviews and meets with new customers over a large geographical area. Du Vall was working in this position when took time off for his 2011 work with ORBIS.

“There is a lot of on-the-job training,” Du Vall says. “The basic logic, they all work functionally the same. Optics are the same, except focal distances are different or maybe a fiber-optic cable is a different size. They are all pretty much functionally the same. Surgical microscopes, slit lamps, phaco equipment, which is ultrasound for removing cataracts.”

The work of ORBIS has a beneficial affect amplified by the training provided to nationals in the countries the plane visits. That training allows local doctors to increase the numbers of patients who benefit from the ORBIS visits, much like a domino effect.

The organization added a telemedicine program in 2003 that allows for follow-up and consultation to the Flying Eye Hospital’s visits.

ORBIS continues its mission today with the DC-10, but is working on a new plane, a MD-10 donated by FedEx. The new plane will replace the organization’s DC-10 in continuing to carry out programs to benefit eye health globally.

What does Du Vall have to say about the experience for other biomeds who might be considering it?

“If you do decide to join as an ORBIS family [member], you will have a lot of fun meeting new people in new places where you thought you would never be,” he says. “If I was asked to help out by going out on a program, I would do everything I could do to go back even for a few weeks, because it’s worthwhile and fun.”

Published in the March 2014 issue of TechNation Magazine.