Saving lives under threat of death

EmErgEncy nurse maria connolly swaps Preston for ciudad Juarez, mexico, in the final film of this enthralling three-part series.

Located on the mexican/US border it is the only public hospital in a city of one million people which, at the epicentre of a drug war that has already claimed more than 50,000 lives, serves on the front line, caring for those caught up in the violence.

connolly will see her skills – and nerve – tested to the limit as she must hit the ground running to work alongside auxiliary nurse Pablo Vasquez dealing with the overwhelming number of patients who arrive bearing serious and life threatening injuries from being stabbed or shot.

It’s not a job for the faint hearted as this is a city with one of the highest murder rates in the world – and one where doctors and nurses are protected by armed guards as they work.

A constant stream of traumas and a lack of resources are a daily issue for medical personnel in ciudad Juarez. So too is the ever present threat of violence from the gangs which terrorise the community.

Perhaps most compelling, however, is how this series – with previous episodes having followed a miner in mongolia and a ferryman in Bangladesh – holds a mirror up to the minor woes of our own lives. Western worries pale in comparison to facing the threat of death every time you go to work. more importantly the series brings into sharp focus the fragility of life itself.