CTC students outfit bus headed for Ghana

Media release: Chattahoochee Technical College Instructor Mike O'Rear and five of his Biomedical Technology Engineering students saw months of hard work culminate in a ceremony Wednesday. The instructor and students handed off the keys to a bus that has been refurbished as a mobile medical unit with equipment they installed.

"I was approached by the people at MedShare about doing this project," explained O'Rear. "They supplied the equipment, and then these students worked to install it and make sure it was working properly."

O'Rear, along with about six students from Chattahoochee Technical College installed the medical instrumentation on a bus that will be shipped to Ghana. Once there, healthcare workers will utilize the equipment and facility to check for hypertension and diabetes in patients while information is transferred back to the United States for analysis.

Dr. Issifu Harruna of the Kibasibi Foundation was on hand to see the now completed bus, which was once used to transport students at the University of Georgia. According to Harruna, the bus will be used primarily in rural Ghana. The bus is named after Harruana's mother, Amina, who accepted the keys to the bus.

This is not the first international project for O'Rear, who traveled to Africa in 2008 with MedShare – an organization that collects donated medical equipment for use in third world countries. However, this is a first chance for many of the students to do such a project　

"This project will help the people of Ghana," said student project leader Charles Cowan. "It will help the world."

For more information on programs at Chattahoochee Technical College, visit www.ChattahoocheeTech.edu or call 77-528-4545.