Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-10-31
A HOSPITAL CAR
uP-To-DATE RAILROADS HAVE
PROVIDED CONVENIENCE FOR
PATRONS
Latest Innovation is Equipped Com
pleteIy With all the Newest De-
vices Known to Surgical World =
Was Originally a Baggage Car.

AhSi WHO SpSlu great uSdl VI
their time travelling on railroad trains
are so accustomed to enjoying all the
,uxuries of life. in transit that they
look upon them as matters of course,
and they do not allow their railroad
Journeys to interrupt the even tenor of
their existence, but even the inveter-
ate traveller might be somewhat as
tonished at the idea of hospital on
wheels.
This, however, is the latest innova-
ton in railroading. 1t leads one to
think that the time may not be far
distant when the busy man with ap-
pendicitis instead of going to an ordi-
nary hospital can have the trouble
some little sac cut out on the road
from New York to Chicago.
The first hospital car has been plac-
ed in general use on the Long Is
land railroad 1t is ordinarily kept at
the depot in Long Island City in read
mess for immediate use and in case
CT an emergency call it is dispatched
almost as quickly as city ambulance,
and like an ambulance it has the right
CT the road-the chief train dispatch
Ell taking care that all ordinary traf-
fic shall make way for it. At least
one surgeon is always on hand to take
charge OF the car and others scat
tered through the towns along the line
can be picked up en- route.
Was Baggage Car.
The car was originally baggage
car, but it has been entirely remodel
ed and is now complete emergency
hospital on wheels The main body of
the car is taken up by the ward, in
which stand about twenty cots, always
ready for Immediate use. Other cots
are folded and stacked ready to be set
up for use and in addition hammocks
can be swung across the car so that
the ward can accommodate many per-
sons in time of possible pressure.
wide aisle down the middle of the
ward affords ample room for the sur
geons to move about The whole in
terror of the car is finished in white
enamel and there are special contriv-
ances to exclude dust. Two wide slid
ing doors in the center of the car af-
ford special facilities for taking in
stretchers.
Operating Room.
At one end of the car there is a
complete little operating room, ten
feet square, for cases that require i'm
mediate surgical relief. This room
can be shut off entirely from the rest
OF the car by a system of sliding doors.
The arrangement is wonderfully sim
pie and compact. In the center is the
operating table, with head and foot ex-
tensions. There is a large copper
boiler with special gas arrangement
for heating water quickly, and a white
enamelled tank for cold water. The
water used in both boiler and tank is
distilled. Cupboards hold complete
sets of medical and surgical supplies
and apparatus, and any sort of opera
ton can be performed in the room
without the necessity Of going outside
to secure any instruments. There are
cabinets of drugs and chemicals, each
drawer and compartment labeled with
a full list of the contents, so that the
thing required can be secured without
an instant's delay.
DR.. George K. Meynen, of Jamaica,
is chief surgeon of the Long Island
Railroad and he has a corps Of some
thirty physicians in the towns along
the island who are ready to be called
in an emergency. Every railroad, sim.
ilarly, has it's surgical corps. 1t is
probable that the hospital on wheels
will soon become a regular railroad in.
stitution, like the dining car, for,
though the number of railroad casual
ties in proportion to the volume of
traffic has been greatly decreasing
during the past two years, the rail.
roads in general exhibit an increasing
desire to afford any victims of acci.
dent the best facilities of medical at
tendance in the shortest possible time.
Railroad Notes.
William MCGOWAN, transfer clerk at
the local freight depot, is in Chicago
on business.
Frank Schoffield, trucker in the Bur.
lington freight house, left Saturday OF
Burlington No. for short visit in
Mt. Pleasant.