First Day of BME J-Term
After two weeks of winter break, today officially marks the beginning of my first J-Term and my first class in the BME department. Words cannot describe my excitement as this will easily be one of the more unique classes I have taken during college, as it will be very hands on and the work we will be doing has the potential of changing several lives for the better.
Over the course of the next 11 days, my group of 6 will be working with a patient who is almost completely blind, as we come up with a design of a product or system that will try to solve some of the problems the patient is currently dealing with in his/her everyday life. Our patient is someone who initially had the ability to see, but unfortunately suffered from a gradual deterioration in his/her vision. After hearing the patient’s story, the patient gave my group four problems that he/she wants addressed that are listed below.
- The patient with his/her service dog has trouble with visibility at night/in the dark, especially when it comes to crossing driveways or streets.
- Whenever the patient’s service dog requires playtime, it is difficult for the patient to locate the toys used, which ends up becoming a tripping hazard.
- An app called Penfriend is limited when it comes to labeling laundry and the labels cannot be labeled. A new labeling system would be ideal.
- Swimming is something the patient enjoys. However, it is difficult as the patient is unable to share lanes or bring his/her service dog to the pool due to various reasons.
A lot of information was presented and it was difficult to process it all. However, after meeting all the patients, I am grateful for the opportunity to work with them, my group and classmates, as well as my professors. I have the upmost confidence that my group will be able to come up with designs that can have impact.
-Albert
BME Design 