Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-04-17
MODELLING Medical ARMY TO
LOOK after WOUNDED SOLDIERS

FEVER, resulting In many deaths; Las
summer, when Id, 000-almost twic.
as many-troo2s were modified fol
! service along the Mexican border, onl,
/ fourteen cases of typhoid fever devel
Oped. The circumstances, in a genera
! way, we're similar Men were taken
from temperate climate to a warmrt
climate and were assembled I'm large
camps. .%@..s !"
The remarkable decrease in the
number Of cases Of typhoid fever was
| due TO nothing more nor less than the
adoption OF proper methods OF santa
ton. The medical CORPS OF the army
saw the mistakes Of the Spanish. Amer.
lean War and profited by them. Ii Is
for the further development Of such
improved methods that the medical
section now is striving. ILL.,.
Lessons from European War
In this. connection object lessons are
being derived daily from the war in
Europe. Hundreds of reports are be-
ing received rom medical officers.
mostly Americans, VINO are at the bat
tie fronts and in hospitals. as men,
bers Of the American ambulance corps
and with various Red Cross units
These refer to the new ways of hand
ling the Ill and wounded, the treat.
ment of wounds on the battle fields
and In hospitals. All Of these sugges-
tons are being tabulated for use in
the future. Ort of them the COM
mittee hopes to develop a thoroughly
up-to-date system for the United
States.
For example, one OF the suggestions,
which is regarded as highly practical
is that for conveying wounded soldiers
back from the battle lines to far dis
tant hospitals without removing them
from the stretchers on which they
first are placed. This is accomplished
by an interchange of stretchers, very
simple method which never had been
put in operation before. In this way
the strength of the patient, an i'm
portant factor for the assistance of his
recovery, Is conserved. IL
When the soldier is placed on a
stretcher at the battle line he is car
ried to a waiting ambulance. The am.
balance, in turn, receiving the patient,
does not place him on one of its own
stretchers, but gives stretcher to
the men who have carried the man. II
the ambulance drives to a hospital
train, which is the general custom
where the railroad lines are, intact al.
most to the trenches, the strain gives
the ambulance stretcher, accepting
at the same time the man and the
stretcher on which he Is being carried.
This system works throughout the sys-
TEN OF transportation, so that Brit.
ish soldier arriving in London, perhaps
on the same dey he Is wounded,
arrives on the same stretcher that was
at the battle 'front.'
II. also is the aim Of the commission
to work out stytenf OF modern hos
pital trains, carrying wounded soldiers
as far from the Dattle front as pos.
sible, out OF the way of the operations
and TO place where his recovery is |
most likely. Delicate operations con-
not always be conducted on these |
trains, but II is possible TO do certain /
things which are important in saving |
mans life, such as stopping the flow
Of blood from a broken artery, the
of an arm or leg or the
like.
70 Learn Full Medical Resources
When the commission obtains full |
list OF medical officers throughout the
country they viii be asked to supply
elaborate statistics on the medical rel
sources Of the various States. hos
Ditals, schools for the re-education OF
wounded soldiers, aud factories equip
led to manufacture medical supplies.
rhe question CT finding schools is one
II the great considerations. Men
Who have been blinded will be taught
o become self-eustaining at some new
Inc OF work; men without arms will
o Instructed in some line Of endeavor
ehich requires no arms: each case
viii be taken up and worked out Ia
tself. in a general effort to reduce
o a minimum the number OF hope.
essly crippled men as the result o.
val.
Arrangements also are being made
o effect standardization of medical
upplies. Comlanies manufacturing
ertsin types OF medicines, surgical
oPllhlsi, OdlludSCS ouu
imilar things used in medical work
iii be invited to send samples to the
TO be pl3cec on exhibition
/ Washington. From these will be
eT sloped the hest practical applian.
es, and the various companies will be
on what will be the needs
j time of war.
Almost all the medical supply manu-
acturers OF the country, when the pro-
osal first was being considered,
'rote to Washington expressing viii
ngness to cooperate in any scheme
hich seemed practical. Such sys Z
I'm viii not only effect standardiza ,
on but will permit the commission. !
it'll full facts at hand, to regulate !
lie supply in al lines, so that there /,
i'll not be "a surplus Of stretchers,
irplus OF a. certain type Of surgical
pparatus or anything else. /,
Medical colleges all over the eoun. :
y are coopereting in the work, and