Trek Medics International was founded in 2009 by Jason Friesen ’12MSPH, a paramedic who had been working on both sides of the San Diego-Tijuana border. Originally started as a weekend hobby, the initial aim was to donate equipment and training to under-funded emergency medical systems in communities with limited resources in Latin America.
Shortly after the January 2010 Haiti earthquake, Jason was deployed with a medical response team to assist in relief efforts in Port-au-Prince and the experiences he had there made it pretty clear that high-tech emergency equipment and luxury ambulances had little to offer to communities with regular blackouts and no roads. Today, Trek Medics International is dedicated to developing sustainable and equitable emergency medical systems in communities with limited resources by strengthening existing systems through its mobile phone-based emergency medical dispatching software, Beacon. Beacon has been designed specifically for communities that can’t afford or don’t need advanced “911” technologies.
Trek Medics won a $25,000 grant from the Tamer Fund for Social Ventures, part of Columbia Business School’s Tamer Center for Social Enterprise, in 2016 and now has experience providing emergency services in 24 countries. Join the movement today and visit: trekmedics.org/beacon/