The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1917-06-21
HOSPITAL UNITS Arr: ADVANCE GUARD
OFEXPEDITIONARY FORCE TO FRANCE
Two Have Already Gone Europe and More Are to FcowFo
Two Years Preparations Have Been Going Forward in
Hospitals All Over the Country Under the Di-
rection of the Red Cross.

of the Lakeside hospital unit, of which
DR.. George w. Grille is chief, jumped
at the chance to train its staff in prac
tice work and proceeded to Philadel
phia to spend two nights under can
vas with the Presbyterian equipment
The personnel and the physical proper
ties dovetailed in manner eminentlJ
| satisfactory to the army officers II
charge; this in spite of minor changes
in specifications forced by such awk
| ward facts as the pole in the center Of
| the garage tent, which made it i'm
practicable for ambulances, or the ne
cessity of building hut for the steril
izing plant to protect it from drafts
When the Presbyterian unit received
| it's war orders last month trustees OBJ
jections no longer counted. The doc
tors were all officers in the United
States Medical Reserve corps and sub
ject to duty. The nurses were regis
tered with the Red Cross, to be called
when needed. The unit stayed only
to recruit to full strength, a matter OF
some detail, since it's civilian require
ments are varied.
Signs for Third Time.
you've everything here but band,
said one applicant, looking over the
list of places still open to him. swell,
he went on, 81 guess I'll sign mp fol
the third time. I've been with the saw.
bones in the Philippines and again on
the Mexican border; here are my pa
pers to prove it. I might as well &c
with 'em once more. It's fine for the
health, boys; better come in," he called
to some students who seemed to hest
tate about enlisting.
Barring accidents, men who enlist
with unit will never know the fore.
front of battle. Base hospitals are
planted miles behind the armies, gen.
orally in some deserted hotel or empty
opera house. They receive only chronic
cases and those of slow recovery, and
are fed by the field hospitals, which
in turn are fed from the dressing or
first-aid stations. The former require
high degree of physical fitness in
their workers, but at base men who
couldn't do trench or ambulance duty
may serve their turn as hospital order
lies. It's all question Of grit and
endurance. Physical examinations are
simple, directed to heart and lungs,
and 80 per cent of the applicants get
through.
In the rush to enroll with the Pres
byterian unit were men of all callings
and every age.
"We've had everything here from
picture hangers to plumbers" said DR..
Sydney Burnap, who enrolled the force.
eve needed mechanics, pharmacists.
electricians, carpenters and cooks. and
we got them ALL"
When the hospital units were
planned two years ago provision was
made for so volunteer nurses aids, to
serve without pay, but with subsis-
tence and transportation furnished by
the government.
Doctors Wives Go.
All over the country women qualified
for this duty by taking Red Gross
training in 'Home Care of the Sick. p
In the Presbyterian unit some of the
doctors wives planned to accompany
their husbands as nurses aids. Mrs.
George e. Brewer, wife of the units
director, was one who had worked
hardest to lit herself to go along. Re-
corders, indexers, stenographers and
typists nearly mobbed the units offices
after the mobilization orders appeared,
seeking a chance to serve in the first
force to go to France.
With all of these it was another case
of Mr.. Drifting looking for war work
and looking in vain. Orders had come
from Washington that no nurses aids
were to be taken. If necessary enlist
ed men would be used to fill their
places. Instead of 20 female clerical
workers, as originally planned, the
number was cut to four, who must be
women with training in medical
nomenclature.
These woman clerical workers are
an anomaly unclassified in army regu-
lations. They are a branch of service
sure to develop with the need, and
those who go over now are pioneers
in much the same way as were the
women Clara Barton organized into
Red Cross nurses in the days of the
Civil war. Keeping the records of SOC
patients is a job in itself. When the
500 change every few weeks the job
grows with the card indexes, to say
nothing of their diagnoses and his.
tories. There are acquisitions to be
made out, letters to be answered and
anxious relatives to be communicated
with. As the units follow each other
throughout the year, more women will
probably be taken to release the doc
tors from routine clerical work, just
as women will finally 60 as nurses
aids in order to release men for the
front.
Would Scrub Floors.
But with the first installments the
war office is "from Missouri" and must
be shown. So that at the Presbyterian
units enrolment offices bitter disap.
pointment spread among the rejected
No one knows what Mrs. Brewer said