BOISE, Idaho — Inside a bustling lab at Boise State University, students typically design rockets, build go-karts, and create innovative tools for preparing food. Recently, however, they took on a unique challenge, bringing a little light back to St. Luke's.
Griff Allen with the engineering innovation studio, said, "The St. Luke's project was really fun. It was a sensory tool for the emergency room pediatrics group."
David Eclaircy, a St. Luke's emergency and trauma nurse, explained how the device works. "We put this machine in the room... and we turn the lights down, and it calms everybody down."
The machine — a tall, glowing tube filled with floating fish and rising bubbles — is specifically designed to help anxious kids at the hospital feel at ease. After years of use, the device broke, leaving St. Luke's staff with the daunting decision of whether to pay for an expensive replacement.
Nuha Akhtar, a BSU engineering student, said, "St. Luke's came to us with this sensory device that was broken, and a company had quoted a really huge amount for this thing… so we were like, we could probably do that for cheaper."
The project offered students like Akhtar a chance to be part of something bigger than just a class assignment. Allen stated, "We try really hard to work with industry and community as much as possible, not only for good outreach but also because it makes great connections for the students."
But the team didn't just fix the machine — they made it better. Allen added, "We upgraded it so we can't flood the ER. We also painted it, added new fish, and made them more realistic, just to make it look more fun."
Akhtar noted, "I hand-tied every single fish on there with fishing line... and a bunch of us worked together. It was a real team effort."
The impact was immediate. Eclaircy remarked, "Using Boise State is fantastic and the students, I'm sure, loved it... we're reusing it so we don't have to throw it away, and it's great. The parents love it. The children, of course, love it."
