Student works to get cancer treatment machines to Nicaraguan clinic

Ben Eastburg didn't know that the student-faculty trip to Nicaragua he went on last year would make a lasting impact on some residents of the country. 

Eastburg, a senior majoring in business and pre-med, recently worked to get cancer treatment machines from a Grand Rapids clinic to a rural clinic in Nicaragua, more than 3,300 miles away. He worked with Paul Lane, professor of marketing, and a physician he met in Nicaragua last year. 

The machines were used by a clinic owned by the Cancer and Hematology Center of Western Michigan. Eastburg, who works for the center, was helping with the clinic's relocation when he found two unused apheresis machines. The machines filter different components of blood that are used to treat cancer and other hematological conditions. 

"They had been sitting in the basement of the clinic for some time," said Eastburg, from Grand Rapids. "I knew we could find a home for these machines rather than throwing them out."

Eastburg contacted Wilbert Lopez, a physician from the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN), whom he met during the trip he took last year as part of the Applied Global Innovation Initiative. During his trip, he said he saw comparatively equipped hospitals in Nicaragua and thought the machines would be useful there. 

Lopez told Eastburg about an oncology clinic in the northern region of the country that could use the equipment.

"I coordinated the donation and quickly found out that shipping two, 500-pound machines was a lot more complicated than I thought, but, six weeks later, they arrived safely," he said. 

Eastburg will graduate in December 2018 and plans to attend medical school. 

"Some people say giving is better than receiving, and I think that's definitely true," he said. 

The Applied Global Innovation Initiative began in 1998 as Grand Valley's disaster relief response to Hurricane Mitch. It has grown into an innovation initiative that includes several trips to Nicaragua each year to work with residents and universities on a variety of topics including design thinking, education and inclusion. Kendall College of Art and Design and Western Michigan University are also members of the initiative. 

Lane leads the initiative with John Farris, professor of engineering.