Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-05-02

blizzard service and in other emery
encies when the motor 10 not depend
able. But aside from these exigencies
the motor car il the accepted type OF
modern ambulance. In ar edition Qt
the Encyclopedia Britannica Tor 1909
there are pictured various types OF
English ambulances5-all horse-drawn-
while the only illustration of an Ameri-
can ambulance Is q motor from the
New York Hospital.
1t is said that the British army finds
a serious impediment to the perfection
Of the army ambulance service in the
high cost Of maintenance in time OF
peace. 1t Is interesting to examine the
ambulance system, which IL intended to
exist through the time Of peace: that Is,
the municipal system. Probably the
best example Of this Is found in New
York city, where ambulances bring
emergency relief to more than 100,0 900
sick and injured every year, rendering
service that is doubtful whether.
under normal conditions. It Is surpassed
In continental Europe.
This emergency system operates un-
der the supervision Of the Board OF
Ambulance Service, which consists Of
the Police Commissioner, as president;
the Charities Commissioner, as secre-
tary; the president Of Bellevue and AL
lied Hospitals. and two members APP
pointed by the State Legislature in 1909.
and the effect Of Its supervision on a
| service that heretofore had been run
rather carelessly and with no respons-
ihle head. at once made very apparent
improvement. This result ia due to a
str!cter supervision of methods en-
ployed and to the assignment of fixed
routes to each hospital. in order to
cover the ground most efficiently, and
to avoid duplica ting the same beat.
An important article on ambulance
service for metropolitan hospitals ap-
pears in the January and February.
1918. issues Of the Modern Hospital. to
which credit is due for data here. This
article states that the first auto ambu-
lance was placed on service about four
teen years ago. Today fifty-one Of the
one hundred and two amhulances in
New York. are motors. Horses have
. been found indispensable, but gas and
electric vehicles are steadily coming
/ more and more into use. An example
Of the division of wor!; Is seen in the
schedule for Rellevue's equipment. Here
there are fourteen horses. three gaso-
lene cars. and four electrics. which, In
1912, answered l1,700 calls. The horses
ore held in reserve, the gasolene cars
make long runs. and the electrics take
first calls, answering probably half the
total calls daily and operating chiefly in
the immediate reighbcrhood. Bellevue
is the parent Of three other hospitals:
, Governeur. or the lower East Side;
I Harlem. uptown. and Fordham In The
Bronx. Governor and Harlem serve
typical city districts, with congested
streets. good pavements, and short
runs. GOuveneur uses two electrics
end two horse vehicles, and in 1912
! these answered $50 calls. Harlem, with
ore electric and three horses. had 1892
cells, Fordham operates through the
outlying districts of The Bronx where
there are wide roads, little traffic, and
fast runs. often Of five miles or more
II. therefore. uses a gas car and
steamer which. in 1912. responded to
! 3,7es calls.
! The New York Hospital has seven
! auto ambularces. all with motors one
Of which has some interesting records
In the Triangle Shirt Factory fire 1t
carried eight patients ut one trip to the
hospital half mile off. and on another
occasion it made q fifty-mle trip to q
hospital beyond the city limits on n
stormy day, with mud in some places
up to the hubs Only an hours boost
was necessary to get the car home.