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Robotics Students Deliver Life-Changing Prosthetics to Children in the Dominican Republic

Posted on August 30, 2024, by J Bradshaw.

Yariselle Andujar, a CMSD high school student and program participant with the Great Lakes Science Center’s Robotics Initiative, makes final adjustments to a new prosthetic device for a 4-year-old patient – Image credit: Great Lakes Science Center

Several Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) students from the Great Lakes Science Center’s Robotics Initiative recently returned from a 10-day mission to the Dominican Republic (DR). The Cleveland-based high school students were in the DR supporting the important work of the nearly 75 doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals with IMAHelps.org, a US-based, volunteer organization that runs humanitarian medical missions to impoverished communities in Asia, the Caribbean, and in Central and South America. The primary role of the Cleveland-based students was to fabricate, assemble, and deliver custom-made, 3D-printed, prosthetic hands and arms to nearly a dozen waiting children and their families.

See the "Moment of Joy" when Daryelin, a 7-year-old girl with a congenital birth defect, uses her new 3D-printed prosthetic hand for the first time – Video credit: Great Lakes Science Center

In addition to their prosthetics work, the students also help to support the other important work of the volunteer medical team by serving as translators, runners, and lab assistants where needed. They even found time to train a group of local high school students on their methods and techniques so that the work they started could continue in the region long after our students had returned home to the U.S.

During the trip the students became ambassadors, meeting with government officials and local educators to promote international partnerships in various STEM initiatives. And everywhere they went, children and adults alike were inspired by this group of inner-city kids from Cleveland, who were using science and technology to improve the lives of others.

According to their mentors, the students who participated in this trip learned empathy, respect, and the meaning and importance of “service before self.” The experience has already sparked an interest in several possible STEM careers, including Pediatric Medicine, Biomedical Engineering, and Computer-aided Design. Some students have even expressed an interest in International Humanitarian Non-profit Program Management.

Although the hours were long, and the work was both physically and emotionally draining, the group's student leaders say this trip was one of the most rewarding experiences of their lives. It has certainly changed the way they view the world, and more importantly, their place in it!

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