Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-31
MANY INJURED DIED
; BEGINNING OF WAR
Unpreparedness by France in
Hospital Arrangements Is
Given as Cause.
SERVICE AT THIS TIME
is ON EFFICIENT BASIS
Nearly Half of Wounded Could
Have Been Saved, It Is Estimated.
U. S. Surgeons Favored.
Copyright. 1919

of the deaths from head wounds and A.
per cent of the deaths from abdominaI
injuries said the military surgeon who
accompanied me this week on tour OF
some of the more important hospitals
of Paris, at the invitation of the French
government
These figures may not be accurate
The surgeon said they are the estimate
Of one of his superiors. But they are
proba bly, not far from correct. France
was not ready when the war began
least of all her medical service. Today
if may judge by what | have seen this
week, she is on working basis OF
efficiency.
Many a man has been wounded at
o'clock of the afternoon in Belgium and
has been between sheets in Paris at
o'clock the next morning, the surgeon
said.
That means the highest sort of eff
cheney. The surgeons in the field have
made habit of rapidity. The injured
Paris If he is badly hurt, he has a cot
to himself. If he is not, and the flood
of battle is running high. he sits up in
the train during the hours necessary
taken to the La Chapeile station. Be
fore the war that was one of the great
freight stations of the city. Now 1t is
entirely given over to the wounded. 1t
is the city receiving StdtiOH
Haste is the word here, said the
surgeon. Sometimes minutes mean
lives"
So that the women of the Danes de
France. who are the auXiliaries of the
surgical branch here, have everything
in readiness, even to ready peeled Or
anges, for the wounded. They all crave
oranges. these poor, feverish chaps On
the way to Paris, or at the clearlns
stations the injured man has been tick
eted by the surgeons. The ticket shows
at glance the nature of the injury
and its severity. Hospital orderlles
carry him from the train on the same
cot on which he was handed in. He is
placed in one of the six wards" which
have been built in what was once the
long freight shed of the station. These
are temporary wooden houses.
wal de Grace Hospital, the commits
0ioner may order.
Use American Ambulances.
The commission consists of two sur
geons and military officer. Each
morning they have placed before them
a sheet made UP from reports from
every one of the 400 hospitals OF PARIS
and vicinity, which comprise 4o,0oU
beds The worst cases are taken hrst-
The commission is assisted by as many
surgeons as are needed. La Chappelle's
full running capacity ls 400 men an
hour. On one occasion $500 men passed
through in a single day. AS fast as one
soldiers case is passed on orderlleS
carry him out to one of the American
Hospitals ambulances, which are IN
waiting. The American ambulance does
all the work of transfer in Paris now
Sometimes fifty American ambulance
cars are at work here.
why are the Americans preferred
for this work." | asked.
At first the answer came in terms Of
compliment. By and by we got down to
n n ut q
French freely, for the most part. There
fore the feelings of Parisians are not
narrowed by exaggerated tales OF the
sufferings of the wounded or OF condi-
tons at the front 1t seems an emil
nentiy sensible arrangement. 1t some
times happens that the patient is not
merely sent to a given hospital but
the services of a given specialist are
commandment 1t has happened that
men have been operated on in the
crowded station. But that was in d
desperate fight against death
OF the many improvised hospitals l
saw all were in good and some were in
excellent condition They were the
products Of Improvisation, of course.
but the improvisation had been bril-
liant. One does not find in an exhibit
ton hall or a convent or hlgh school
the conveniences of the modern hospl-
tai Substitution and invention have
been freely resorted to- In only one
hospital was there even hint of the
smell that was all TOO frequent in most
hospitals at the beginning of the war.
In this one hospital the nurses were
quite the youngest and the prettiest
/ have ever seen. 1 can imagine a
shifting mOuologue.
Surgeon: This man must not eat for
forty-eight hours. An operation Is
needful.
Patient: Gee. I'm hungry"
Nurse: rs sisters boofum hung'y?
And does bad old doctor say he shan
have anything? He just shall, so he
shall"
Orderly: You'd orter heard the boss
cuss when that guy died.
Candor compels the statement that
the hospital train service is probably
not all that could be wished. L was
shown but one train, perfectly new
one which was said to be of the high
est type in France OF the fourteen
cars several were freight cars which
had been built over to hold nine
stretcher cases each, The stretchers
were supported on spring gadgets that
are admittedly not satisfactory. The
wounded man swings too much. Men
have been thrown from their cots when
the train was being run at high speed
over a bad track. The other cars were
from which the carpets had been re-
moved ard which had been reprinted
Each compartment could accomm oda te
two cot cases, on the long seats
which run its length.
There was operating car and an
Office car. but | am forced to say that
the train as a whole is not the equal OF
many hospital trains ! have seen in
Germany The French physicians ad-
United IL was by no means equal to the
English hospital trains. Nevertheless
II is a useful train, in which the
wounded can be quickly and conve-
niently handled and ca.1 Kept fairly
clean and comforta BILE during neces-
sarily painful journey. Like the hos
pitfalls. il is an Improvisation. France
has had neither the time in which 10
build hospital trains of the new mod
ern order nor the money with which to
pay for them. Like the hospitals again
IT is doing the work.
I was not able to get at the percen
tage of wounded that is returned &c
the front One surgeon said II was
about 40 per cent. although in his owr
hospital he had sent 81 per cent back
to the firing line. For various reasons
however, he did not think the percen-
tage the country over should be meas
ured by his success. Great and kindly
care is being taken OF the wounded
who can never again be wholly usefu
men The blinded men are taught tc
care for themselves and to work al
trades which may enable them to sup.
port themselves at least in part. Mer
who are crippled by the loss of an arm
or leg are taught useful trades.
I'VE believe that-measured by re-
sults-we are doing quite as well a:
the surgeons of any other country
said one of the surgeons with whom
talked. France was not prepared fol
the war. That fact cost her thousand.
of lives that under other condition:
would have been saved. and a total o.
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