Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1909-06-01

for the Grand Central is a part of
the district apportioned to this hos
pital. and although few persons re-
alize it the system which makes pos
s!ble his speedy relief also dictates as
to where that relief shall be given,
There is no h|apha2ard about It,
The whole system Of ambulance SER
vice. which is the chief factor SO iar az
The public is CONCERNED, in the work oil
rcpa ring 10000 humans each year
lis cnly a part of a still larger system,
IN which the hospital-the repair Th0n
as it werc-is the basic factor. There
are in Greater New York today more
than eighty hospitals divided into two
groups-the city hospitals,
known as Bellevue and allied hosplt-
| ais, and the institutions not under
municipal management, OF when the
| Flower Hospital Is I'm equally prom
incnt example. some Of these are
special hospitals, where some specific
trouble is treated, some general, ana
not all of the latter operate an am
| bulancc service. There are. however,
more than thirty hospitals which do
flmaintain such a service, and on them
| liliN ~ WI - 3N' -
majority of emergency eases.
The basis of this service rests on
J the division of the city into what are
known as ambulance districts OF
which there are now twenty. me
whole city is divided up into speciii-
cally defined territories. each of which
is covered by a designated hospital
| Every ambulance call in a given ter
ritory is covered by the institution TO
which it is assigned, These districts
being fixed on. the whole work OF
human repairs so far as the city is
concerned. has its basis. when John
Smith is bowled over by a speeding
| automobile the nearcst policeman tel
ephones instantly to his precinct sta
tion, or to police headquarters, using
the police wires to expedite the hand
ling of the call. If his phone is TO
his precinct station. it is, except IN
rare cases, Forwarded to "300 Null
berry street where the director of
Human Repairs has his office. Before
his minds eye is an ambulance map
Of the city, with a physical duplica-
ton or the wall. showing all districts
and what hospitals cover them If
only the fraction of the time that it
takes to write it. the Human Re
%pairer has telephonod to the proper
hospital that an accident has occur
rcd at such and such a location. lm-
medfateIy the officer of the hospital
receiving the call orders out an am
lbulanco. giving specific directions as
to the location of the accident, much
as a wrecking train on a railroad Is
dispatched to the point of trouble.
AS soon as the human Wrecking WaG-
on returns with the injured person o
report is made out which goes to the
Director Of Repairs at police head
quarters. SO that any emergency cal
handled by II hospital in the city
lis always traccable from the records
on hand.
Simple as it may seem. the system
involves not only much labor but has
been subject to much misunderstood
ing. Aside from thhe thousands OF
hospital workers engaged in this
labor of human repairs in the work
shops, that is. the hospitals, eighty
four employees of the city itself are q
part If the system for the admins
traton OF the physical end of the re-
lief work. The development Of tn,
service is always going ON as is indi-
Gated by the recent signing by the
mayor of an ordinance providing foi
an enlarged board TO supervise tn,
ambulance service. Likewise the hi
rector of Human Repairs is calico
upon constantly to study the acct
dent record and to make rccommen-
d~ations looking to more efficient ser
vice. Curiously enough these changes
often lead to public misconceptions.
on the first of last March, for OK
ample. a change was made in certain
districts due TO the withdrawal of the
ambulance service of the Roosevelt
hospital. The territory formerly scrv-
cd by it was apportioned among three
other Institutions, the Flower hospital
receiving the busiest section. AS a
result the ambulance record of the lat
ter institution showed S62 calls com
pared to $40 for the same period q
year ago. This hospital is now hand
ling about onc-tenth Of the ambulance
calls of the city. and has just added
two power ambulances to its previous
equipment to meet this contingency.
The publication of these figures, show
ing increased calls. however, caused
R'OPit ~ jump W iut t'AA hoAoh AAht
accidents were about three times as
common this year as last. a cOnclu-
sion, of course. entirely erroneous. But
even with New York's accidents in
creasing only at about the same rate
as the population, the handling of
( them is by no means a simple mat
ter. and the present efficient system
is the result of long study and care
ful supervision.
As to the character OF the causes
OF these 10000 ambulance calls every
year to attend to human ~smash-ups,
they run the gamut of all the ills
that flesh is heir to. some of them
are false alarms. so to speak. others
airs trivial. involving only "a bruise OF
a slight cut. Tho report Of the Flow
cr hospital shows hat only about
eight out Of every twenty-five patients
are brought to the hospital. Nearly
one-third are cared for by the ambu-
lance surgeon without being brought
in. while one-fifth either decline
treatment or are taken home or to
some other institution. But less n
{ per cen die before reaching the
hospital. so efficient is the servic.
Ordinarily the accidents to care for
--Is-l. ...I..I. r.n.4 .r. 10 ff4nnfI ITg