To strengthen the health system of Cross River State in Emergency Medicine, a team of Emergency Medicine Technicians (EMT) from the United States of America has trained 40 health workers in the state. The three-week health-training course, which was the first in the state, was led by Mr Nicholas–Maxwell and Ms Jessica Bedi. The culminating event in the course was a mass-casualty drill in a torrential rainstorm the students undertook in the middle of Calabar. At the two most-trafficked roads in the city, Maxwell and Bedi set up a major traffic accident, complete with victims soaked in ketchup to simulate blood. With the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital administration, high-ranking Nigerian health ministry officials and the press and public looking on, the students triaged, treated and cleared the victims from the scene in fewer than 12 minutes.