MONROE — They don’t wear white coats and their names aren’t followed by M.D. but Gabe Phillips and Tim Nagel, coworkers in healthcare technology management at the Monroe Clinic Hospital and clinics, traveled to Nigeria and made a difference offering their technology expertise.

“We were responsible for finding medical equipment on a manifest provided by the charity organization, Project C.U.R.E,” Phillips said. “We set the equipment up, tested it and instructed medical staff, nurses and doctors on how the medical equipment at that particular facility was to be used.” 

While at one hospital, Nagel repaired a patient monitor for a doctor.

“I spent an afternoon reviewing the operation with him until he was comfortable,” Nagel said. “He met us the next day at another clinic to ask more questions and to make sure that he had our contact information in case he needed more help.”

Some of the biomedical equipment that Phillips and Nagel installed were patient vital sign monitors, surgical tables, pulse oximeters, electrical surgical units, solar lights, exam lights, centrifuges, blood press monitors, patient scales, patient beds, ophthalmoscopes, oxygen concentrators, infant warmers, cautery units, defibrillators and microscopes.

All of this equipment was supplied by Project C.U.R.E., the world’s largest distributor of donated medical supplies to resource-limited communities throughout the world.

“The equipment installed was donated by Project C.U.R.E.’s U.S.-based network of procurement donors that includes hospitals, clinics, manufacturers, distributors, and individuals,” said Amy Greene, director of program management for Project C.U.R.E. “The funding to ship cargo containers of donated medical equipment and supplies, as well as, to send the team to Nigeria came from the U.S. Agency for International Development in support of the Saving Mothers, Giving Life program.”

Nagel read an article about Project C.U.R.E. and volunteered to test and repair equipment in Chicago. They mentioned that they needed a team to travel to Cross River State in Nigeria for 10 days.

“We worked together for more than 15 years so we decided to make this a team effort, too,” Phillips said. 

While preparing for the trip, they had to get some additional immunizations and travel to Washington, D.C. to get Nigerian Visas.

“We are well vaccinated for the upcoming flu season,” Phillips said, laughing.

Nagel, who was a biomedical equipment technician who supported and maintained medical equipment technology in the U.S. Air Force before starting at Monroe Clinic, said the itinerary was set in place once the trip was confirmed and the pair obtained visas. They met with the Project C.U.R.E. team to discuss goals. 

“Amy knew the equipment and supplies that each clinic or hospital received, which allowed Gabe and I to review equipment manuals so we were comfortable setting up each device,” Nagel said. 

Nagel and Phillips traveled from the U.S. to Frankfurt, Germany and met their team leader Danielle Walters, who worked to meet the objectives of the trip with Project C.U.R.E., medical facility staff and Phillips and Nagel.

The next day, Nagel said they traveled to Calabar in Cross River State, Nigeria, on a flight which took 27 hours with layovers.

“It was my first time on a flight greater than five hours,” Phillips said. “So, it was a bit of a shock to sit in a plane for 17 hours.” 

Once they arrived, Phillips said he was amazed to see how people had very little waste.

“Every day, people from small towns would walk up to 10 miles to recover food that they had planted in the fertile river bottoms and then they’d carry the food back and either sell it or feed it to their family,” Phillips said.

Nagel said even though most everyone in Nigeria speaks English, there was a language barrier.

“I think they had as hard a time understanding us as we did them,” Nagel said. “Everyone was very friendly and when we were traveling to the clinics or hospitals a smile and a wave always received a smile and a wave back.” 

There was also a culture shift when it came to meal times. The pair said food was very spicy and some of the more prevalent items were sweet potatoes, cassava and goat as a main entree. Locals became friends in a short time, exchanging jokes and talking.

Both Nagel and Phillips commented on the lack of consistent AC power. Though the duo would carry a generator everywhere, sites would lose power “multiple times” a day, impacting how well they could provide care to patients. Still, local workers remained optimistic.

 “With the extreme poverty in the area, it was enlightening to see how the medical staff stayed positive and worked around the lack of stable electricity and running water,” Nagel said.

Phillips added that he realizes that he takes things for granted. 

“You don’t really understand it until you’re standing in it,” he said. “You can’t just run to Walmart or the gas station or McDonald’s and get what you want for the morning.”

Nagel said that he was humbled by the experience and it made him realize how fortunate he is to live in a country with so many conveniences.

“To have access to clean water and a stable electrical system along with the state-of-the art healthcare in our local community is something that I won’t take for granted,” Nagel said.

Phillips said he appreciates his wife, Melissa, and sons Eli and Jordy and Nagel echoed the sentiment, voicing appreciation for his wife, Maria, and daughters Sarah and Rachel. They also said they were grateful for coworkers Pete Blum and Dave Gersbach “for taking care of everything while we were on the trip. We couldn’t have traveled and been successful without their support.”