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Team Sergeant,
I concur, 100 percent. Telemedicine is the key for people (especially a loved one) going to an austere environment without the medical sophistication of the US. Case in point, I treated a young woman in the Caribbean Islands with a burn while I was here in Phoenix. This young woman was a American and a student attending a school in Martinique. Her aunt is a pathologist at our hospital. Her aunt called me and told me that her niece had burned herself and she and the family were scared as they had no burn care in Martinique. I asked the aunt to e-mail pictures if possible. I also discussed the case with the young woman by her satellite phone to my cell phone. I had her to take more pictures of the burn and e-mail them to me. Based on those pictures, I recommended appropriate dressings, how to perform occupational therapy, how to keep the wounds clean and what to look for, etc. Eventually, she presented to our burn center six weeks later and she had done very well, healed and doing her therapy.
Having the ability to call for help and sending pictures is very important as well as someone on the other end that can respond and give advice (physician, nurse, PA, NP, EMT, etc). I would make sure she had a camera that could download to a computer to e-mail pictures or a phone that can capture and send photographs. Telemedicine is what we are doing for burns and trauma here in Arizona and the Southwest. It is also occurring in the Midwest and in Texas that I know of currently. It is a fast rising field in medicine. It has been used in the Navy for many years from ship to shore. It helps us treat patients that would otherwise die from injuries or illnesses in remote hospitals or clinics. The telephone is the most basic way to do this. If the Peace Corps has all the basic medical equipment (bandages, etc), then get "telemedicine" equipment (satellite phone, camera, computer or whatever combination) that can get an e-mail or call to home or a physician for more advanced care.
Best wishes to her on her mission with the Peace Corps.,
Dutch
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