Guatemala City, Guatemala

Photographer: Giles Clarke

Year of Submission: 2016 (Educators Edition) 

By day, Jorge is a cardiothoracic surgeon. By night, he is Guatemala City’s sole mobile doctor with the Bomberos Voluntarios, the city’s volunteer paramedic service. On quiet evenings, Jorge trains his colleagues in emergency medical treatment. But quiet evenings are rare. More often, the Bomberos Voluntarios’ thirteen teams spend their time rushing from one emergency to the next along Guatemala City’s gang-ridden streets. Jorge studied medicine in Guatemala before spending two spells living in the United States. There, in addition to working as a doctor, he also trained as a firefighter. In 2012, he returned to Guatemala to become head of the cardiovascular department in a military hospital – and help bring a little emergency relief to Guatemala City’s mean streets.