I often get good feedback about the things that we’re accomplishing and the decisions that we’re making… but it’s not often that I get feedback from the other side of the globe- but that’s just what happened this week. Kyoung-Jun Song, MD, an emergency physician in South Korea sent me an e-mail this week thanking us for helping him set up the South Korean trauma and pre-hospital system. 

You might recall from a previous post that we had the pleasure of meeting with a delegation of health officials from the Republic of Korea (South Korea) a few months ago to talk about Arizona’s Trauma System. We met with the S. Korean team to talk about how we developed Arizona’s trauma system over the last 3 years. We’ve gained a national reputation for our ability to put together a solid trauma and pre-hospital system in just the last 3 years. The Republic of Korea’s Health Ministry has been charged with and funded $1B US to develop their national trauma system over the next 5 years. Their delegation wanted to visit Arizona and Southern California to view first hand our systems as they embark on their quest to develop their trauma system. 

Dr. Song wrote me this week to express his thanks for our help during their visit a few months ago and a more recent visit by our Dr. Ben Bobrow- as our technical assistance has been instrumental in helping them to set up an effective and data-based pre-hospital system. Among other things, he wrote that… “By (your) help, we can change many our system… and that change made many fine results. Dr. Ben’s wonderful lecture was very helpful and motivated many (in the) audience.”  Think globally- act locally.