The COVID pandemic has stressed America’s emergency care systems with shortages of everything from manpower to PPE to ICU capacity. But if you want to be challenged a real bare-bones environment, try developing EMS in places like Ethiopia, Uganda, or Ghana.
Physicians Benjamin Abo and Torben Becker both have ample experience in such exotic locales, and that was the basis of their Jan. 16 presentation at the National Association of Emergency Physicians’ annual conference. Abo, DO, PMD, FAWM, is medical director for Gainesville Fire Rescue and other agencies in Florida, chair of the NAEMSP’s Wilderness EMS Committee, and well known from television appearances; Becker, MD, PhD, FAEMS, is chief of critical care medicine and director of prehospital research at the University of Florida and associate medical director for Alachua County Fire Rescue. They spoke on advancing prehospital care in low-resource environments.