PODCAST · health
Before the Hospital
by EMS Global Foundation
Before the Hospital is a podcast for the people building emergency medical systems where they are needed most. Each episode brings together practitioners, researchers, and health system leaders working on the frontline of prehospital care in resource-constrained settings — sharing what works, what does not, and what it takes to build systems that save lives. Produced by EMS Global Foundation.
Episodes
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A Decade Too Late: What Disaster Memorials Reveal About Reform
By Hamish McLean Memorials to disasters usually arrive about a decade after the event. By the time they open, Kjell Brataas argues, the window for reform has often already closed. Kjell is a Norwegian researcher who has studied 80 disasters and the memorials that followed them, from Sandy Hook…
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Building an Ambulance Service with no funds
Connect with us In 2014, Andrew Hodgetts left a paramedic career in Victoria with a set of keys, an empty bank account and a mandate to start an ambulance service on Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu's largest island. There was no funding for equipment or vehicles. That came later through cold-calling...
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They called an ambulance. A hearse arrived.
Connect with us Decades ago in the United States, if you called an ambulance, the vehicle most likely to arrive was a hearse. For much of the 20th century, more than half of the country's ambulance service was run by funeral homes — not because it was profitable, but because they had the only...
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The Death of Paramilitary Culture: Fixing EMS Leadership
Connect with us In this episode of the Before the Hospital Podcast, host Hamish McLean interviews Joe Acker, CEO of the EMS Global Foundation, who brings 35 years of experience in running emergency medical services across Australia and Canada. Joe discusses the critical need for EMS leadership to...
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How Uzbekistan rebuilt Soviet‑era EMS
Connect with us When I sat down in Brisbane to record this Before the Hospital conversation with Dr Khikmat Anvarov in Uzbekistan, I expected a discussion about ambulances and equipment. What I heard instead was a thirty‑year story of how Uzbekistan has tried to rebuild emergency care as a…
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40 patients on one EMS shift
Connect with us Dr Biyamba graduated from medical school in Mongolia and went straight to the ambulance. No transition, no supervised ramp-up - just the dispatch system in Ulaanbaatar and whatever came next. In a single summer shift, he treats 30 to 40 patients. In winter, that volume climbs to…
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No One Is Fixing Dead Time. Until Now.
Connect with us The call has started. The patient is waiting. And the clinician is alone with their thoughts ... until now. Every ambulance call begins the same way. A dispatch notification. A vehicle moving. A clinician alone, working through what might confront them and what they will do when...
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No One Is Fixing Dead Time. Until Now.
The call has started. The patient is waiting. And the clinician is alone with their thoughts ... until now. Every ambulance call begins the same way. A dispatch notification. A vehicle moving. A clinician alone, working through what might confront them and what they will do when they arrive. That...
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You Can't Clone Doctors. So She Found Another Way.
When Dr Suvd Nugui returned to Mongolia after training in the United States, she came back to a system where most of her colleagues had never heard the word “paramedic.” Neither had her parents. Her solution was simple and radical: if she could not be everywhere, she could train people who could....
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Why paramedic Tania came back to Mongolia
Tania Johnston is an intensive care flight paramedic, emergency nurse, and academic based in Canada - and a two-year EMS Global Foundation volunteer in Ulaanbaatar. In this episode, Tania reflects on what she observed between her first and second mission: the strengths of Mongolia’s ambulance...
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He came from a Yorkshire air ambulance. Then this
Paramedic James Stubley comes from one of the most advanced prehospital aeromedical platforms in the UK. Double-crewed, doctor-qualified, critical care at altitude. He is now teaching Mongolian on-road ambulance doctors and coming back for a second year to finish the job he started. This episode…
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Why these doctors are learning from paramedics
Dolly McPherson is an aeromedical paramedic with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (UK). Her normal shift involves a helicopter, a doctor, advanced airway and trauma equipment and closed-loop communication rehearsed to the point of instinct. When something goes wrong, she has…
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When less teaches more: What Mongolia's EMS reveals about Western systems
Canadian paramedic Joe Acker watched a Mongolian ambulance doctor suture a head laceration on the roadside in the capital Ulaanbaatar, write a prescription and send the patient home. In Canada, the UK or Australia, that patient goes to hospital. No question. That moment has stayed with him - not...
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Mongolia's doctors know medicine. This is what they're missing.
Mongolia’s ambulance doctors are qualified physicians. They know the medicine. What most of them have never been taught is what to do with that knowledge before the patient reaches hospital. That is the problem international paramedic Leon Baranowski flew to Ulaanbaatar to help solve - for the...
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What a genuine thank you means when you're running forty calls a shift
Dr Judy is an ambulance doctor with the Ulaanbaatar Ambulance Centre, one of the frontline clinicians EMS Global Foundation has been working alongside since 2017. During the 2025 mission, she did something that captures the programme’s direction exactly: she participated as a trainee, contributed...
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What minus 40 teaches you about priorities
Jarrod Bell is a wilderness intensive care paramedic from Tasmania (Australia) - and a two-year EMS Global Foundation volunteer instructor in Ulaanbaatar. In this episode, Jarrod reflects on what draws a Tasmanian paramedic back to Mongolia for a second year: the adaptability and workload of...
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Why Tania came back to Mongolia
Tania Johnston is an intensive care flight paramedic, emergency nurse, and academic based in British Columbia - and a two-year EMS Global Foundation volunteer in Ulaanbaatar. In this episode, Tania reflects on what she observed between her first and second mission: the strengths of Mongolia’s...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Before the Hospital is a podcast for the people building emergency medical systems where they are needed most. Each episode brings together practitioners, researchers, and health system leaders working on the frontline of prehospital care in resource-constrained settings — sharing what works, what does not, and what it takes to build systems that save lives. Produced by EMS Global Foundation.
HOSTED BY
EMS Global Foundation
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Before the Hospital have?
Before the Hospital currently has 17 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Before the Hospital about?
Before the Hospital is a podcast for the people building emergency medical systems where they are needed most. Each episode brings together practitioners, researchers, and health system leaders working on the frontline of prehospital care in resource-constrained settings — sharing what works, what...
How often does Before the Hospital release new episodes?
Before the Hospital has 17 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Before the Hospital?
You can listen to Before the Hospital on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Before the Hospital?
Before the Hospital is created and hosted by EMS Global Foundation.
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