The program hires a doctor and a physicians assistant for the winter. They like everyone else are stranded here from February to August so there isn’t a lot of room for anything requiring hospitalization. Mostly it’s a clinic. They will set broken bones and are able to do most things you would find in an emergency room. The harder part is teeth. No dentist in the winter. The doctors get a little bit of dental training but for the most part anyone with a toothache gets antibiotics and they have to wait until August.
The real truth down here is that we go through something equivilent to an astronaut physical before coming down. Lots of blood tests measuring everything that could possibly cause a problem and plenty of people flunk it. Even in the summer with regular airflights you are at least 3 days from a hospital and if the weather turns sour you can be up to a week or more so they don’t take any chances.
mike