Program Evaluations for Prosthetic Distribution Programs
Penta Medical Recycling brings high-quality, low-cost prosthetic care to middle- and low-income countries, while repurposing what would otherwise be considered medical waste in the United States. By turning donated hardware into viable prosthetic equipment, Penta helps restore mobility to those in need.
Project at a Glance:
Role:
Data Scientist
Hours Engaged:
292
Skills & Stack:
Python, SQL
Problem
Our nonprofit partner, Penta Medical Recycling, collects used prostheses to bring high-quality, low-cost prosthetic care to amputees all around the world. Their team works with individual donors and clinics to source these prosthetics and refurbishes and inventories them to distribute these life-changing medical devices to international partners. Penta’s inventory management platform supports these processes and data collection to track both their supply and demand. Their team had seven years’ worth of programmatic data but did not have the capacity to examine such a large dataset.
Solution
Through a Prometheus Data Science capstone program, Marcy Lab Fellows conducted a robust program evaluation with data visualizations for Penta. To create these reports, the team conducted an exploratory data analysis to understand Penta’s data quality better and recommend improvements. These evaluations will enable Penta to not only assess the efficacy of their programs but also make operational changes to better serve their community.
“Working on this project was my first real end to end project involving a partner[.] I enjoyed being part of each stage of the project, from data cleaning to final deliverables... All that structure helped me become a better professional, a better data analyst and a better colleague.” - Thierno, (Data Science Fellow, The Marcy Lab School)