You don’t want a triple burden never mind a quadruple burden.

Trauma, Lifestyle Diseases, Communicable Disease, peri-natal morbidity and mortality

It’s not all trauma in South Africa, it’s worse than that. The Rainbow nation unfortunately gets a rainbow of pathology too. Which makes for challenging work and interesting medicine. It means that South Africa is a bit different and that’s where www.BadEM.co.za comes in.

This is the 4th in a series of Jellybeans with members of the BadEM team because we love BadEM. It is the very impressive Victoria Stephen.

Victoria Stephen ( @EMCardiac ) is a consultant emergency physician with a special interest in Ultrasound and Cardiac stuff. She works in a new hospital named after the last anti-apartheid activist that was sentenced to death under the brutal failing regime, Thelle Mogoerane. Gone. Not forgotten.

Of course like all of us she had to work hard to develop her talents and Victoria credits Lifeinthefastlane and Steve Smiths ECG blog with improving her ECG skills. She has benefited from #FOAMed and she is giving back. BadEM is working hard to try to create a new flavour of #FOAMed for their world, which is just not the same as Manchester or Melbourne. That said there is plenty of good will and support for BadEM all across the FOAMed world which will be demonstrated at one of the worlds most ambitious medical conferences ever; #BadEMFest18

The BadEM crew are creating a very African conference; glamping in the bush 90 minutes from Cape Town with all food, accommodation, activities taken care off. And for a pleasant change your partner or kids will be more than welcome and well taken care off. These things are hard to put together. Support BadEMfest18 if you can. Bring your entire family if you can. But if you cannot go then please consider supporting a delegate from within South Africa or nearby through the #Supadel initiative.

I cannot reveal all the speakers but I understand you’ll hear from the cream of Manchester, Melbourne and the rest of the world, by which I mean St. Emlyn’s, Don’t Forget the Bubbles, The Teaching Course and more. There will be MSF types and crazed Canadians, they may even have speakers from all continents returning to the birthplace of humanity. Check out the website and then check in to a flight in March. It may be one of the best trips of your life.

Victoria is a very good speaker. It is impressive that she had no preparation for this interview yet she summarised and presented so many varied medical and peri-medical issues so coherently. Another embarrassment for yours truly.and another talented doctor working to unburden South Africa. When you meet people like Victoria you begin to believe that, with time, that quadruple burden will be lifted.

Thanks to Victoria for being Victoria and thanks to Victoria for coming and talking to me on the Jellybean Podcast.

Thanks also to the late great Miriam Makeba, whose 1967 classic Afro-Pop song Pata Pata graces this podcast, the first song most people heard from her and the very last song she ever sang. What a woman.

What a pair of women.

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