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Dyslexia helps create a practical approach

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I had an amazing opportunity to visit with Sir Ray Avery at his home in Auckland. For those who don't know he was the 2010 NZer of Year, is a scientist and renowned inventor.

Anyway he is really an easy bloke to chat with and had such a passion for helping others, thus giving some of his time to me to talk about how best to help Dyslexics children.

When the conversation went to his own childhood experience with Dyslexia and how he turned it into his advantage for creative problem solving, and then he started to share about his work on a 'Lifepod Infant Incubator', and asked then if I would like to see it in his lab.

Now how Kiwi is this guy? Took me down stairs to his converted garage, where sat two Incubators side by side. The first was one I recognized from endless TV Hospital shows and he gestured for me to operate it - easy I'm a bright guy, the instructions are there and a large arrangement of buttons.

It only took me a few minutes to realize I was lost and had no show, Then came his version, for a start it looked inviting, the controls where few and it took no time to have it operating.

He then said these standard ones are in the third world and if you don't speak English your'e already behind. His incubator crosses the language barrier. But that wasn't the only improvement, he said what kills the babies is the water quality (inside the Incubator) so even if they got a child into one, survival was not guaranteed.

So what  this Kiwi did was to put water filtration inside the unit!

In his garage I saw first hand what a difference some practical out of the box thinking can do for a baby's life. Here is a shoot out for Sir Ray, who is dedicated to making quality healthcare and equipment accessible to even the poorest developing nations around the world.

| From the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  ||  March 27, 2018   |||