Case Study: Trek Medics achieves access to rapid emergency care for 200,000 people with Twilio

Trek Medics delivers SMS emergency response in areas without 911

Trek Medics is an international nonprofit that brings emergency medical care to communities without 911-style systems. Facing regions with no reliable dispatch infrastructure, the organization needed a flexible, low-cost communications solution that could run on laptops and basic mobile phones rather than on-premises call-center hardware.

Trek Medics built BEACON, an open-source, SMS-based dispatch platform using Twilio’s cloud communications APIs to relay emergency texts to trained local responders. The approach has enabled rollouts in places like the Dominican Republic and Tanzania, trained over 150 community members (about 50 active responders), reached roughly 200,000 people, and supported 450 emergency responses in 2016, letting the team focus on delivering care instead of managing infrastructure.

Trek Medics

Jason Friesen

Founder