Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1917-07-13


a large city a county sometimes several coun-
ties.
The chapter is governed, on smaller scale,
very much as the Red Cross as whole is gov
erned. 1t has it's chairman and other officers, it's
board of directors and it's executive committee, in
whose hands the active work is carried In
large chapters executive secretary usually does
most of the active work of the executive commit
tee.
Each chapter is divided into section for mill
tary relief and a section for civilian relief much
as the national organization is divided. And each
section has its committees to carry out the various
activities.
The section for military relief has it's commit
tees on: Red Cross; instruction; hospital sup
plies; warehOusing and shipping supplies for
fighting men, and special committees for such
work organizing hospital companies, sanitary
detachments, surgical sections and supply depots.
The section for civilian relief has its commit
tees on: Care of families of soldiers and sailors;
relief for noncombatants; care of discharged sol
ders and sailors; training in volunteer civilian
relief and special committees needed on local
disaster, of refugees and other kindred sub
jects.
How the Red Cross operates is perhaps best
told by citing of the concrete examples of it's
work To begin with, two of the most recent in
stances of civilian disaster relief take the lorna
does which devasted Newcastle and New Albany
Ind. at intervals Of about two weeks.
of a score of lives, and several hundred persons
made homeless and thrown out of work, the pres
ent writer, learning the situation through tele-
graph and long distance telephone messages to
the press notified Division Director John ]. O'Con-
nor of Chicago. Within ten minutes Mr.. O'Connor
was calling for Red Cross nurses, surgeons,
trained Investigators, and arranging with Wash
ington for whatever funds might be needed to
start the work of rescuing the survivors, feeding
and housing them, getting them back to work, and
collecting, identifying and burying the dead. All
night long, from his room in Chicago he was put
ting this that and the other agency to work at the
end of wire, and the dawn of the next day saw
order coming out of chaos.
Then, and not before, Mr.. O'Connor took train
for the scene, and when he arrived, found his or
ders being carried out. He took personal charge,
aided by the chairman and committees of the In
dianapolis and other nearby chapters, and the
work of rehabilitation went swiftly forward.
While the director still at Newcastle he
received message that even worse disaster
had befallen New Albany Again sending orders
by wire for surgeons, nurses, investigators and
supplies he took train for the of the latest
calamity and again he arrived to find the system
already at work. The living were cared for and
work found for them, the dead buried, and all
with the least possible delay and Reorganization
of the daily life of the community
The June number of the Red Cross Magazine
contains succinct account of the splendid rellef
work accomplished.
The work of organizing base hospitals illus
trates the forehanded methods of the Red Cross
With a clarity of vision for which the country
now blesses him. Colonel Kean called last autumn
for the Red Cross to organize for the army and
navy with the least possible delay SO base hospital
units He did not want hospital buildings-what
he wanted was 36 units of surgeons, dentists
apothecares orderlies nurses and assistants, with
all the cots mattresses, bedding, laboratory appa-
ratus bandages splints surgical shirts, bed
gowns and the thousands of things that must be
had before single wounded man can be properly
cared for Each of these SO base hospital units
was to be enrolled and trained, all their perma-
nent equipment bought, and all their consumable
supplies bought or made boxed, labeled and
stored so that the whole could be shipped by train
or steamer on notice of a day two
Instantly all over the country, the division d1-
rectors passed the word to their chapters, and the
various committees took up the work Of forming
base hospital units Under the supervision OF
Washington itself the surgeons and nurses were
chosen and enrolled Purchasing agents bought
at the lowest possible price the equipment I'm
der each chapter engaged in the work commit
tee on hospital supplies got standard patterns and
specifications from the department, and set
the bandages wound dressings and hospital gar
ments.
All that was long before the United States