A moving ceremony was held this week at Ziv Medical Center in northern Israel when faculty from the BRAUDE - College of Engineering, Karmiel presented a new medical device that works alongside the EKG (electrocardiogram) machine. Sadly, the person who developed the device, 27-year-old Or Yakir and a Braude student herself, died from a heart condition while she was working on the device.
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"She knew every nook and cranny of that device," said Matan, her brother, in an interview with Ynet Live. "She wanted to make things easier for others in her condition. Her own congenital defect was diagnosed before she enlisted with the IDF."
What is this device, exactly?
"When someone is admitted to the ER and doctors wish to examine how his heart functions, they do an EKG, which involves multiple cables that tend to become entangled. Or and her partner Nofar have developed a device that enables a more streamlined way of arranging the cables, making it easier to prepare them for the next patient," he said.
"That way, medical staff can free up some time they otherwise would spend messing with cables, so they can spend more time with their patients."
"When we arrived at the hospital this week, one of the nurses told us his colleague came into the office exhausted, and when he asked her what's wrong, she pointed out the amount of time she had been spending fiddling with the cables. The device my sister developed would facilitate the medical staff's handling of the cables, so they can spend more time actually practicing medicine."
Dr. Orit Braun Benyamin, head of the department and senior lecturer at the ORT Braude College of Engineering, said, "Or was a very special student. She enrolled to study the development of medical aid devices and had taken on this project because of her own condition. Our students love working on important and practical issues. When a patient is admitted to the ER, every moment counts, so if we can save a doctor just 30 seconds, it is sure to save a life."