The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-07-11
Just fourteen minutes from the time We

inst fourteen minutes from The time We
stretcher ont from tie wagon, and open
ed it on the sidewalk. The mattress
with the fireman upon it wa slid on to
the stretcher, and then the attendants
carried it into the basement room, where
the injured man was received by the
house surgeon, who proceeded to make &
careful examination of the case.
Duringtthe prelminaries he asked the
fireman where he lived. "Doyou want
to be treated here or ait home after /
get through" The fireman expressed
a wish TO be taken home, and as it
would not, in the surgeons opinion, be
dangerous to transport iinDa, ne was
promised that the ambulance would take
him to his home IN the afternoon.
The following facts regarding the
ambulance service were obtained from
DR.. @. a. Jersey to supplement the
writer's practical experience Of fourteen
minutes. The writer requested DR.. Jerr
sey TO inform him what steps had to be
taken in order TO bring an ambulance
to the relief of an injured person. The
answer was to the following effect
Suppose i man engaged on oHe of the
large buildings, which one sees going
up in the lower part Of the town, falls
from the scaffolding and Is injured.
The crowd which gathers round the IN
jured man usually attracts the attention
of the policemen on the beat. When
he a%snartains that soma one has been in.
jured he notifies the authorities at the
station house. AT times q private per-
son who knows whore the station house
is situated may get to it with the
news even before the officer
knows of the occurrence. The infor-
nation is then telegraphed or tele-
phoned from the station house to police
headquarters, whence it Is conveyed by
telephone to the hospital in the district
in which the accident has happened.
district to which the Chambers street
branch of the New York Hospital Is sit
uated, and the news is received there, q
call is sent to the ambulance stables in
Duane street. There are three calls TO
those stables, the first, for the ambu-
lance to cone to the hospital door; the
second, for the ambulance to wait for
the surgeon at the stables; the third,
for 1t to wait for him
at the corner Of Broadway and
Chambers street. There are two m
balances attached to this hospital.
During the day one Of them is ready to
start on the instant the call Is sounded,
the horse being in harness and the driyI
er on his seat, and no matter whether il
be- driven at once to the hospital, or the
surgeon meets it at the stables or at the
other rendezvous, rarely more than two
minutes elapse between the call and the
time the surgeon is in his seat. Ait
night both horses are unhitched, but
they are harnessed on tire system adopted
by the fire department, SO that very little
time j. lost. The surgeon once aboard
the ambulance is off for the scene of the
accident. IT willhave been noticed that
any delay in extending help to the in
injured under this system is due To the
clumsy manner Of conveying the infor-
nation to the hospital, on, more properly
speaking, to the station house. This
may cover twenty minutes or more, and
In some cases q delay Of twenty minutes
is aSseriOns matter.
In this city there are seven hospitals
to which ambulances are attached, viz.
The Now York Hospital, the Chambers
street branch of the New York Hospital
St. Vincent's, Bellevue, the Ninety
Ninth street branch Of Bellevue, the
Presbyterian, and the Roosevelt. The
calls which come from police head
quarters are divided into ordinary and
hurry up calls. in d case Of d hurry
up call, the spot where the accident
has occurred Is reached with the utmost
speed, the ambulance sliding right
up to use the expressive phrase Of the
ambulance surgeons. This speed of
course could not lie attained were il
not that she ambulance has the right Of
way over every class Of vehicles except
ing the vehicles Of the United States
mail and Of the fire department
Each ambulance is fitted mp with q
sliding mattress, boxes for splints,
emetics, antidotes and instruments for
stopping hemorrhage. The service has
existed here about eight years, and not
being any way connected with politics.
ii highly efficient. Before it was I'M
troduced patients were carried to hos
pitfalls on sfretchers, as they are still III
London and Paris.