Bringing 911 Service to the Developing World With Smartphones and Motorcycles
System engineer Ronand Nuñez is a volunteer for the Manzanillo Town Fire Department in Monte Cristi province, Dominican Republic.
Photographer: Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo for Bloomberg Businessweek
While driving along the winding dirt roads of El Copey in the Dominican Republic, you’ve crashed headlong into a cow. The bovine seems OK, save an aggravated moo, but you’re hurt, and the closest city is dozens of miles away. Dialing 911 is an option only in the capital of Santo Domingo, not out in the countryside.
Instead, call the regional firehouse. There, a dispatcher uses Beacon, software created by nonprofit Trek Medics International, to send a group text to a team of volunteer emergency medical technicians in the area. One of the volunteers texts back a confirmation number and heads to the scene on a motorcycle equipped with a sidecar gurney, taking you to a physician.