Trying to save newborns and preemies in developing countries from preventable deaths by donating crappy old incubators apparently doesn't work. Even if they work, no one ever sends the manual. But really, the things break down pretty quickly, and there's no one around who can fix them. So CIMIT, a consortium of Boston area hospitals, teamed with Design That Matters, a non-profit organization which comes up with practical, economical, real [developing] world solutions to urgent needs, to create a homebrewed, serviceable incubator.
Which they apparently MacGuyvered from the only piece of sophisticated equipment that always worked, no matter where they went: a Toyota 4Runner. See if you can guess the phrase in the NY Times article on the project that made it impossible for me to not post about it:
What resulted was a serious-looking gray-blue device that conjures up a cyborg baby buggy, but fits comfortably in hospitals and clinics with few resources. For one thing, the supply of replacement parts is virtually limitless, because the modular prototype can be adapted to any make or model of car.Looking Under the Hood and Seeing an Incubator [nyt]
No more images, but you can follow the Incubator project on the DtM blog [designthatmatters.org]
holy cow. where do you find these images? that's great!