This blog post wraps up our CBEL project, summarizing our achievements, contribution to the community and what we learned as a team.

Presentation

On Monday March 25 we held a poster presentation for our client, showcasing our project scope, constraints, brainstorming ideas, and finally our final product. Many people were intrigued by our project with different professors and clients coming up to speak to us. Below is a picture of the poster we designed for the poster presentation session.

Project Summary

Achievements

Our team has made many achievements through the course of this project. One of our first tasks was to come up with the contents of the kit; this took quite a bit of research and extra thought. In the end we believe we came up with the best combination of items possible to meet Eric’s needs during an emergency situation. Our next achievement was the project implementation. Everything went according to plan as we met all deadlines and safely secured our two kits in Eric’s home. Lastly we believe we have raised awareness to the community about disaster response situations during our poster presentation session.

What did we contribute to the community that we served?

We contributed to the community by designing and implementing a post disaster emergency kit for our client, Eric Molendyk. We were able to use our engineering knowledge and expertise to increase the survivability of our client in the case of an unforeseen disaster. Also as we stated earlier, we were able to raise awareness of post disaster preparedness to members of the community by our poster session.

What did we learn about project context, planning, and implementation?

In terms of project context we have learned that it can be very hard to meet your client’s needs exactly and changes may be needed throughout the project. At first our client wanted only one emergency preparedness kit safely secured in his home that would be of immediate assistance in the case of an emergency. Given the projects constraints such as the limited space in his home, and his limited range of motion, our team decided to make two kits. A larger kit, which contained all necessary items, was placed in his main hallway and a smaller kit was secured for his room. This smaller kit contained just the essentials for surviving an emergency. We believe our client was very happy with our change to his original requests since we were well below our $200 budget and securely placed not one, but two kits in his home.

With project planning our team always had a tough time with reaching final decisions and from this we each learned a lot about teamwork and also respecting each other’s opinions. There were many cases throughout the project where team members would disagree with other member’s ideas, and it was not always easy to settle these arguments. Towards the end of this project our team was much better with making decisions and respecting each other’s opinions.

Lastly, with project implementation we learned that everything does not always go according to plan as we originally thought up. For instance there was a major set-back for us when we purchased the wrong size kit. The first kit we purchased was too large and considering Eric’s limited space we were not able to find a suitable place to secure the kit. As a group we quickly learned that we should not be making any major decisions or purchases without being completely sure. After this mistake we did not purchase anything until Eric agreed with our interim report, which included all contents of the kit. We also measured the area where we were deciding to place our kits so that it was not too small for the kits we were planning on purchases.

Since this is our concluding blog post, we would like to give a special thanks to our client Eric Molendyk, Pat Tweedie, the National Program Coordinator of Tetra Society of North America, Shalaleh Rismani, our mentor and Susan Nesbit, our course instructor.

Design Process 

After meeting with our client Eric, we figured out the locations of the kits are supposed to be.

The next step for us was how to secure the kits in the ideal location. For the large kit that was supposed to placed beside the door and bigger space, we decided to use a metal hook. The metal hook we found can hold up to around 30 pounds. Which for the set up required little modification to Eric’s apartment wall. The smaller kit was hanged on a plastic hook sticked to the desk and required no mortification Eric’s desk and so the ideal solution.

The items in the bag were placed and organized with no problem.

What was done

As a group we are very proud that we were able to stick to the original timeline and got all the work done on time. As mentioned in the last blog, we were able to gather all the items on time and on budget for both the small and large kits. like getting the small items ready such as replacing the candles with more efficient ones and getting the flashlights for both of the kit. What needed a bit of extra work was getting right size kits so that it will fit into the desired locations. 

Project outcomes

The kits were delivered to Eric and secured on March 10^th. The pictures below show the kits at Eric’s house:

The Small Kit

The Large Kit

** the large kit is hanged using one metal hook beside the main door

** the small kit is hanged beside the desk in Eric’s bedroom

The whole group and also Eric were satisfied with the project outcomes.

Over the last three weeks, our team has made a lot of progress. We have drafted a purposed budget and finalized a list of the necessary items we need.

The table below shows the list of tasks completed and ready to be completed:

Site Meeting Description:

As seen in the table, our team visited at Eric’s house to decide where to put the kit. Eric suggested having the kit either hanging near the door or placing it beside his computer desk. However, after inspection we found that the kit we have will not fit into the space beside the desk; so we decided to make one small kit and one large kit. The large kit will be placed beside the door and the smaller kit beside Eric’s desk. Furthermore, we have to think of a way to secure the bag without having it on the ground by the time we have our next meeting with Eric on March 10.

Responsibilities:

Purchasing the contents for the emergency kit were divided among our team:

• Neda
  • First aid kits
  • Robax (high strength back pain)
• Jay
  • Flashlight
  • Batteries
  • Candlesticks and Lighter
  • Whistle
  • Smaller kit
• Enrico
  • Dust mask
  • Foil blanket
  • Water
• Peter and Dilveer
  • Food

Indicators of success:

Retrieved From: www.peerbits.com

The most important achievement that was accomplished in the last 2 weeks was purchasing the items while being on budget and assembling the kit so that everything fit properly. What we would like to accomplish in the final weeks is finding the best way to secure the bag so that it’s easy to reach and requires very little modification to Eric’s surroundings.

Brain storming Ideas:

As a group we have brainstormed many ideas for a possible emergency preparedness kit for our client. Our main topics of concern were the accessibility and contents of the kit. After visiting Eric’s home we have thought of a few places where the kit can be placed and could be easily accessible. As for the contents inside the kit, we have come up with many items which are a necessity in case of an emergency. These items are: water, flashlight, blanket, whistle, glow stick, first aid kit, dust mask, and granola bars.

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We have brainstormed many different ideas for the accessibility and content of the kit. Some of these ideas have been great while others have been implausible. The technique our team has used to rule out some of these implausible ideas are by taking a vote amongst the team and doing some research online on things we weren’t sure about. For instance one group member suggested we needed six liters of water in the kit. As none of us was sure how much water a human needs to survive, one of our group members did research and discovered it is more probable to have two liters of water in the kit.

We have recently just finalized many aspects of our kit and its contents. It was not easy to finalize some of the items in the kit since our group had came up with many great ideas but we still needed to keep within our budget so some decisions had to be made. Ultimately we decided to take out some of the less necessary things for survival. As for the kit itself, we decided to go with a soft kit instead of a hard kit as it would be more easily accessible to our client and also it wouldn’t break if it fell on the ground. We have also chosen to go with bottled water with a squeeze cap as our client is only able with one arm and cannot open a twisting cap. For the location of the kit in Eric’s home we have narrowed it down to somewhere in his kitchen or bedroom. This would be an ideal place to put the kit because this is where he will be mostly at his house. Another choice we have made is to keep the kit some place of arms length away so he can easily access it. We immediately ruled out putting it somewhere on the ground as it word be hard for him to access it during an emergency.

Overview:

On Feb 1, our group met with Eric, our client. Some of the important highlights from the meeting were:

**The budget for the kit is 50-100$

**Soft cover kits are more preferable

**Eric take only multi-vitamins and cold-fx

**The kit is better not to be attached to Eric’s chair

Next, we researched on some of the contents and convenient sizes for the emergency kit. An appropriate size bag was found that could fit in all the necessary contents. After finding the kit,3 important issues were reviewed:

The amount and type of water placed in the kit so that it will fit and also not go bad, the amount of food for three days after an emergency which has to be non-perishable so that it can stay in the kit for some time like granola bars, and the content for our first aid kit, if the content should be hand picked and placed or not.

After 2 weeks on brain storming on Feb 8 we finally agreed on some primary contents for the bag. Thereafter, we had to consider the cost of each item so that it would be in our budget. Although the cost of each item has been considered through out the project decisions, on Feb 15, a rough estimate was made for us to work on. This phase is by far the hardest since it limits us from adding more content if it were needed and also finding the contents so that it would exceed our budget.

Organization Description:

 The Tetra Society founded in 1987 in Vancouver, British Columbia by Sam Sullivan. Sam was a quadriplegic, and so he could not easily do many daily tasks, such as showering on his own. Later, he worked with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC. By installing sample devices in his apartment, there is a great improvement in accessibility. The collaboration did not stop; they continued to work together to help other people with disability.

Retrieved from:http://www.tetrasociety.org/support/volunteer.php

Currently, the Tetra Society has 45 chapters and 300 plus professional volunteers throughout North America, and their services are customary for each client. Their clients range from infants to seniors, and they can have any level of disability. Tetra’s goal is to provide the best custom service to individual clients, and to reduce their societal and environmental barriers. Tetra’s assistive devices help their clients increase the access within the households (Kitchens, bedroom and bathroom) and other environments (vehicles, public places), to improve the quality of their life.

Project Scope:

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The scope of this project is mainly to design and implement a post disaster emergency kit for a client with cerebral palsy,   it is also important to make sure our client understand the kit in order to make effective use of its contents.  The goal for this project is to exercise our capacity to help others with our engineering knowledge, and to ultimately increase the survivability of our client Eric in the case of an unforeseen disaster.

Project Constraints:

 Because of the unique physical situation of our client, his limited range of motion creates some constraints for the design of our emergency kit.

 **Some non-negotiable constraints include:

– The kit must be within reaching distance at all times

– The client must be able to open the kit easily

**Some negotiable constraints include:

– Contents within the kit

– The location of the kit

Strategies To Reach Our Goal:

In order for us to successfully complete this project, it is important to maintain a constant line of communications with our mentor and our client. This way we ensure that everybody is on the same page with regards to the progress of this project. Also, we would put emphasis on researching about the composition of our emergency kit, including its content and location, to maximize its value to our client. We would also test and modify our designs of the kit on a regular basis to improve its functionality to the best of our abilities.