Intro

In June of 2007, we traveled to the Dominican Republic to investigate the opportunity for implementation of needle-free jet injectors (NFI) in the immunization program.

NFI delivers immunizations via a thin, high-speed liquid stream and eliminates many negative consequences incurred from using needles including biohazard sharps waste, inadvertent needle sticks, and needle reuse. We used individual interviews of health care workers, administrators, public policy makers, and international organization workers to gather feedback on the usability, cost saving potential, and adoptability of NFI technology for immunizations.

-Mike, Azucena, Sapun, and Rich

Monday, June 18, 2007

Day 5: June 14, 2007. Super Ice Creameria

We finally had a full day of people willing to talk to us!! If you’re looking for a welcoming area in Santo Domingo, I recommend Area 7. Ask for “that lady who demanded her chocolate gift”. She’s nice. After a bunch of interviews in the Area office, we headed over to a hospital in the area to interview the medical director and two vaccination nurses. All more or less friendly and all had input. Maybe we’re getting the hang of this thing. Maybe we’re getting better at choosing our audience. Either way, its nice to actually be talking to people. Or, should I say, talking to Azucena who in turn is talking to people.

I found a cell biology book in Spanish today. It was rad. I took a picture of some stuff en Espanol related to my thesis project (dineina!). I think I’ll put it in my thesis. It’s going to be awesome.

We went to a grocery store tonight called Plaza Llama. We’ve been to a few grocery stores already but this one was enormous! It was like a Walmart ate a Super Target. You can buy ice cream there and carry it around the store with you. It’s delicious! Somebody should be selling ice cream at the entrance of every grocery store in the US. I’m serious. It would make the boring job of grocery shopping that much more fun, like going to the county fair. That's especially true on an oppressively hot and humid day like today. I wouldn’t be opposed to funnel cake at the laundromat either but I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

-Rich

Caption: Sapun es muy importante.

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