The star-independent. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1904-1917, 1915-01-18
First Aid Methods a Part of the Safety
Movement

In taking up the safety NOV ement
which is now rapidly spreading over
this State and country, many manu-
featuring establishments have found
it both humane and profitable to incor
porate into the safety work of their
particular establishment "iirst aid'
training. The necessity for this can
readily be understood when it is known
that many injuries, if given prompt
treatment and care on, the spot before
the removal of the injured person to
hospital or home will not result in Sc
rious complications. This fact is demon
strated vividly on the battlefelds of
Europe at the present time,
Reports from those fields of opera
tion state that each soldier is provided
with 4 small "6rst aid' packet, in
order that he may render "irst aid /"
treatment to himself or his neighbor.
Correspondents have repeatedly stated
in their articles which have appeared
in the magazines of this country that
the small "first aid" packets have
been of material help in reducing the
number of serious cases resulting from
infection of minor wounds.
So it is in accidents occurring in
manufacturing establishments. Some
plants are far removed from hospitals
or places where the services of a ply
stefan can be obtained, or in some cases
some time may elapse before the ar
rival of a physician at the point where
the injury occurred. Under these cir
cumstances, workmen should be train
ed in 'first aid' methods, as the ap-
phcation of such methods to any injury
will greatly lessen the chances of in
fection or blood poisoning; moreover,
IN eases of severe injury, in which
bones are broken or the soft tissues
mangled, the use of prompt aud efficient
aid to the injured may avert perman-
ent, partial or total disability.
One of the large steel corporations
in the western part of the State, the
Cambria Steel Company, has taken up
the safety movement very extensively
They not only are offering diplomas to
employees who become proficient in
first aid" work hut they also have
undertaken, through their "first aid ]"
trainers, to spread the movement
dHloiS tiit SCHOoi cnlluEeH. Once q week
their first aid' trainers give a dem
onstration at the different school build
ings and during the summer the chill
dren on the Fairgrounds are taught
these same principles.
The value of this movement was
recently demonstrated in a story which
has come to the notice of the depart
ment. A man walking along the street
slipped and fell, injuring his head. Two
boys came along and seeing the acci-
dent, Immediately, by means of sticks
and their own coats, rugged up an i'm
provised stretcher and with the aid of
this stretcher carried the injured person
to physician IS office. The injured man
was wholly conscious and would have
been able to walk to the physician s
office, so the physician asked the boys:
why did you go to the trouble of
making this stretcher and carrying this
man heres He would have been able
to walk here, himself
The boys looked at the physician q
minute and in apparent disgust said:
"Our first aid rules tell us to al
ways keep a person with head injuries
in a reclining position.
The physician, knowing that the
boys were right, warmly congratulated