The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-11-21


Red Cross Takes Over Ambulance
Service
In June the Red Cross took over
the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Ser
vice, made up of five sections of twen-
ty cars each, two men to a car and
two officers to each section; and be-
tween that time and the date on
which responsibility for ambulance
transport was taken over by the
American Army it organized, equipped
and put in service eight additional
sections. Before disbanding, the
number of men had been brought to
over 600, $50 of them at the front and
the remainder in the training camp.
Many of these have since gone into
other branches of service. The COM
mand of the service was under Rich
ard Norton and the work in the field,
often under trying conditions, was
carried on with nerve and esprit de
corps.
Red Cross Rest Stations
AS factors supplementary to army
equipment, the Red Cross through
its United States Army division has
undertaken to place on the lines of
communication eighteen rest sta
uons. in which to harbor soldiers who
are taken sick while being trans
ported from the port to the front, or
wee versa. Six are in operation in
existing quarters, new barracks for
seven are in course Of construction;
contracts for five others have been
let. These rest stations are each of
them made up of two to four bar.
racks, 40 to 160 feet long. They in
clude infirmaries, fully equipped with
baths, water closets. laundries, disin-
fectors, and kitchens; dispensaries,
rest and reading rooms. dormitories
with from 40 to 200 beds, equipped
with shower baths and disinfectors;
and restaurants and canteens capable
in some cases Of giving refreshments
to a thousand men in an hour The
staff in each include a manager, a
nurse, and several volunteer workers.
The Red Cross is constructing bar
racks also for such rest station and
infirmary at the principal American
aviation camp in France.
Guarding Our Soldiers Surroundings
Forty dispensaries for the treat
ment of the civil population in the
American army zone have been put
in operation under the special genito-
urinary service of the Army Medical
Department. A special corps of
army physicians has been assigned
to the work. and the Medical and
Surgical Divisions of the Red Cross
supply the dispensaries, nurses, mo-
tors, and equipment. Each motor
unit, made up of one doctor and two
nurses, is responsible for several vii.
lagos. routed much like rural mail
delivery. In examining the zone II
was found that most of the doctors
had been called out Of civil practice
and gone into the French Army. For
! example, in one locality. where there
had been originally 100 physicians,
there are now only 18, and they are
all from 65 to 80 years old. In large
areas there are no physicians what
ever Where our troops are en-
camped or in contact with the vii
lagos, these medical unit will give
general medical care to the neighbor
ing people by district nursing and
practitioners, and they do this on the
theory that to help the health of the
people is to make the region a health
Ter place for American troops, and sc
is of very real concern to America
The work is done in agreement witt
the French military and civil author
tiles. and with the sanction of the syn
dictate of French physicians.
Portable installations
A wide range of mobile plants fol
serving the physical welfare of tht
soldier have been investigated by thu
American Army division, and plans
blocked out for operating experimen
tai units under a ravitaillement ser
vice. These include:
Portable kitchens, to supply no
food to the men in the trenches ant
TO the wounded at the postes de sc
cours and back of the casualty clear
ing stations;
Portable ice plants to supply hos
pitals with ice packs in cases 10
I nd nd