01/04/2026
6 YEARS. Pro Paramedicos began in March of 2020 as an emergency response to the pandemic. The volunteer paramedic teams charged with transporting Covid-19 patients to the local hospitals did not have even, gloves and masks, the most basic of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
In the earliest stage of the project Pablo Ahuja and Xchel Palafox gathered donations and purchased PPE online and delivered it to volunteer paramedic teams throughout the state of Baja California Sur in Mexico. At the time of delivery, they would always take a photo of the paramedics with the boxes of PPE standing in front of their local ambulance.
It was during this work that Pablo and Xchel became aware that often the teams did not have a working ambulance. Oftentimes the local rig had broken down on a service call and the paramedics were waiting on a tow truck or a mechanic or repair parts to get their rig back in service.
That was when it was decided to buy a used ambulance from the US and bring it down and make it available as a loaner ambulance. The rig would be loaned to the community´s paramedic team until there local rig was repaired and returned to service.
The project is now funded through tourism. Pablo, a Marine Biologist, does tours and the profits are used for Pro Paramedicos “Ambulancia Comunitaria” project. These are the 3 ambulances that have been purchased and are maintained using the money from those trips
They are on constant loan all over BCS whenever the local rig breaks down. They are loaned at no cost to the paramedics or the communities they serve. They have been loaned on multiple occasions to La Ventana/El Sargento, Los Barriles, San Juanico, Todos Santos, Pescadero, San Antonio, Ciudad de Constitucion, Puerto Chale and La Paz. Tourism can save lives and benefit all the people of Baja California Sur.
