Problem #7

When it rains, it pours.

The new surgical wing means that soon we will be able to do emergency C-sections, and that means we are on our way to providing labor and delivery services.

This means that we need a room to do it in. We have a room picked out, and a special bed on order, but the problem is that the room is right next to all the other patient rooms in the ward. This may lead to some unfortunate noise issues.

So my new challenge is to find a way to soundproof the delivery room using locally sourced materials and little to no money. The other issue is that my boss, Mama Susan, wants it to be an aesthetically pleasing space inside and out. It's a fairly large room, with two exterior walls, two windows, an inclosed bathroom, and a double door to the ward.

My resources are:
1. Me
2. probably up to $100 or so
3. a crew of groundsmen with extensive carpentry skills
4. a car (for fetching supplies)

I'm open to suggestions.

UPDATE microscope problem
It turns out that there is a problem with the camera itself, which I cannot fix. So I am trying to get the manufacturer, Olympus, to take it back for repairs. They aren't returning my emails or answering their phones so far though.

In the meantime, we are pursuing the stopgap measure of adapting a different camera. I already wrote about trying the point and shoot option. This has not produced very satisfactory results.

Thanks to Vickie suggesting phone cameras. As outlandish as it might sound, this may be a viable option. Thanks to Nathan for telling me about Skylight, a product that lets you take pictures with recent model iPhones through the microscope eyepiece. I've been in touch with them, and they agreed to donate a skylight for FAME. I hope we can work it out to arrive before the end of December. That just leaves the problem of finding a an appropriate iPhone. Mine is first generation, and it has very limited photographic capabilities. We really want a 4S or later model, and I thought that Dr. Frank had a stockpile of them somewhere, but it turns out that all of his are older models too.

UPDATE gym equipment problem
I finally got around to pouring my concrete weights. Below is a picture of one of them in the frame:

I borrowed some leftover bricks from the new volunteer bungalow, and built a fairly creditable bench as well. As soon as my shoulder gets better (I'm having some rotator cuff tendonitis issues), it will be ready to go.