The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-07
Mrs. Stobdrt Tells of Her Work For Wounded Serbs

ONEtAGO oCF OC | larger area Each sends to the mother l hospital all cases needing prolonged treatment or operations.
 Live by Roadside
 | Each unit comprises one woman doc l tor, two nurses, one cook one chauffeur.
 and one interpreter who all live and
 work in tents by the roadside The pro-
 cess of selecting a district and site, and | of establishing one of these dispen nsaries,
 is delightfully."- simple. The Servian of- fcials have many admirable traits of
 character. But the quality which has
 above all won my heart, is their readi-
 ness to seize ideas, their refreshing ab-
 sence of red tape in carrying out those
 ideas and their whole hearted acquses- | cence in ones rather unorthodox manner l of setting to work The following is
 the usual programme: Upon the table in
 my office tent at, Kragujevatz a map | of Servia is spread One or two of the
 heads of the medical military department come in to have a talk and they sug- I gest that in such and such a district | there is large population urgently in need of medical aid. We agree to drive | there together next day. Knowing the
 dramatic possibilities of Servian Yoads I we start at a. m next day. The vs- | ible village at which we ultimately ar I rive-after adventures in which oxen will probably have figured as deliverers-will consist perhaps of two inns and cou- | pie of cottages. But one knows that | hidden amongst the trees or the hillside, each in it's own orchard of plums and apples and it's garden of kulSurus or h. | dian corn will be scattered many pic- | turesque one-storied peasant homes, with | their clean whitewashed walls and chim- ] neys and red tiled roofs. One knows
 also that within these homes e0o0 or 5000
 women, children and old men-their young manhood killed or at the front-will,
 whilst toiling beyond their strength to
 earn a scanty livelihood, be watching
 with hopeless eyes around their own | fireside, the ravages of that enemy-dis- ease-against whom they have no weapon of defense
 "The motor halts at the larger inn, the l local prefect is summoned and appears as 1 if by magic in few minutes A hand
 some, middle aged man, picturesquely | dressed in dark brown homespun, with l braided waistcoat, spotless soft, white shirt, trousers tucked into elaborate1y em- I broidered stockings, and opantsi or soft
 leather sandal shoes peaked at the toes.
 He is informed that Madame Stobart is l about to establish a diSpensary for his
 people. He expresses his sattstacsson. We walk few yards along the road and 1 select a camping site, and next day his l astonished eyes watch the arrival of the motor lorries and OK wagons which con- | Vey tents, drugs, stores and personnel to
 the scene of action. The good news that l help has come spreads like prairie fire,
 and within a few hours ,i arrival, the
 dispensary is going concern, with 1 clientele varying from 1000 to 5000 patients
 per. month. The whole thing is sim
 plicity personified.
 No Camping Site
 At Ovcarska Banje, when we ar trtx | was no suitable camping site. The | broad river Morava and closely plant l ed trees monopolized the narrow val ley between mountains on either side l over 5000 feet high. The only avail able space was occupied by 200 Boz
 nian and Herzogovinian refugees who i were squatting in cabins. But we were needed. l. therefore, ordered all the trees to be cut down with in an area large enough to include our camp. q Y snail be here tomorrow with the dis pensary, and if you haven't cut down I the trees, we shall do it ourselves" IT said laughingly. And next day took I with me axes and hatchets in case should be met by the obstructive It,
 tie word "Sultra" (tomorrow), but I found, when arrived the whole space cleared. By nightfall we were estab- lished and before "A hours were passed
 80 patients had already been treated we WcIo OII IlOndSIlC lanQ and two monks and priest invoked Gods bless ing on the dispensary and it's work CTS at service which was--amongst
 those mountains-uniquely picturesque tuberculosis is rampant everywhere
 and will in the end, unless drastic
 measures are taken and sanatoria, etc,
 provided, prove a more insidious enemy
 to the Servian nation than the Aus
 tr1an army. Dire results of neglect of
 health of the peasantry are shown not
 only by terrible increase in the num-
 Der of tubercular patients, but by the
 intensity of the disease which might
 possibly in it's earlier stages have been l stayed. After years of prolonged neg , lect bodies become riddled with dis ease. One day, charming child, Ros- 1tza by name, was brought to us in an OK wagon by her father from village
 30 miles away One of her legs was ) so rotten, from neglect of -typhus
 effects--(the two bones were barred of all ,flesh)--that amputation was the ) only chance of saving her life. She !, had no mother and the father implored
 us to take the child into our hospital : as he was going next day on com
 mando, and wanted to know that she !; was successful and now the only trou- ble Is to procure wooden leg-at this r moment in this country almost an inn possibility
 Diphtheria Prevalent
 'Diphtheria also is playing havoc in many villages. I often wish that the , anti-vaccine faddists could spend half : an hour at one of our dispensaries, and see for themselves the results of the serum injection. One day, for instance,
 a woman came A miles to bring a child who was very i'll with diphtheria. Another child had died of the disease at home and the mother thought she would risk bringing this one to be } inoculated It could only die once. But e the next day. after the injection, the child was so much better that the fol- ' lowing day. both mother and father came bringing with them the remain } ing six children to be inoculated And so this little family was saved from be- ing plotted out.
 l 'In some of the villages smallpox is . the rage and the dispensaries do valua- ! ble work not only in doctoring and