The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-12-20
Bv DOLLY DALRYMPLE
' these perilous war times, when the

H AWtul waste OI Auiilelll AALO NeNAA
 S be checked by educating the laity in
 "first aid' work and all of it's attend ant responsibilities and possibilities the necessity of promoting and encouraging "first aid'' work is of such vast m portance that it behooves everypody Ill this broad land of ours to do their Di' in it's behalf.
 So essential is it that President Wilson said in the early days of the present world war:
 "Iye have squandered great part oI what we might have used; we nave not stopped thoughtfully enough to count the human cost-the cost of lives snuftea ont of energies overtaxed and broken the fearful physical and spiritual cost 1 to the men and women and children upon whom the dread weight ana pI,r- drn of it all have fallen pltllessiy the l years through. - ooa
 Tn Birmingham there are today SoV women who have taken the course lls
 first aid" under w. s. Rountree ol | Wvlan1. who has given his serVlces Tree i of charge, gladly, patrlotio"4AS N cheerfully. .o | In paper read by Dr. Rountree be- fore the American Mine Safety assocla- ton sometime back, he said, among other things:
 mrhe first aid to the injured is being 1 taught in the United States oy many ! organ;zations, chief among which are;
 Tha American Red Cross, the bureau or mines and the Young Mems Chrlstian association, and many separate orgam- zations and the various companies WhlcA have instituted the work independently.
 These workers in the first aid to the | injured fully realize the importance ot
 uniform standardization and centrai or ganfzation. and it was this end in view 1 that the National Mines Safety and First | Aid to the Injured meeting was held in Pittsburg Pa in 1811 and conference called by the United States bureau oL mines at Pittsburg on September z9
 1912
 "AlI great movements have to have beginning, and the outcome Of these meetings was the organization Of the l American Mine Safety association, the primary object of which is to standardlze l central organization for carrying on the l work
 Since 300 women have completed their course in "first aid'' work under pr. iRountrees able instruction, they stand ready at any moment to answer the cal | from whatever section of the country IL comes; had they been needed in the re- cent Halifax disaster, they would nave gladly responded; were they summoned ianywhere today, they are ready and Wll- ling and waiting to go.
 "It is great achievement for Blrm- lingham to number such a large quota from her ranks as volunteer first aid workers-3 -300-and it is great achieve ment for Dr. Rountree that unremune- l rated he has given such splendid serv- lice as first aid teacher, adviser and l physician.
 Among the 300 women from all ranks 1 and files, society, the business world,
 the home and the professional world is 1 Mrs E. R. Katzenstein, who is grad uate of the first aid'' course and whose 1 enthusiasm earnestness and sincerity in the work is an inspiration to others to go and do likewise
 l "What does first aid mean?" Mrs.
 Katzenstein said in speaking of the work, lis a question that may be aptly put to the uninitiated and also what is l the ultimate value of this worldwide e phase of war work? The answer is sim pie: First aid means skilled assist ance given in the hour of need to the sick and wounded; it covers wide
 field, including everything from the ar-
 rest of blood, dressing wounds, trans iporting patients to comfortable quarters, | to keeping them warm. The specific and
 important duty of first aid is to pre- vent injuries from becoming serious, and | this is done by having the proper ma
 terials close at hand, and knowing how
 to use them, for it has been known that a man has bled to death at the very feet 1 of his comrades, who endured the agony of death themselves because they were unprepared and unskilled in first aid, and therefore unable to do anything for their unfortunate brothers when given | a slight knowledge of the general prin- ciples of hemorrhages or other attendant
 contingencies, would have enabled them l to save a life.'
 q am proud to say that Birmingham
 is right up in the first ranks when it
 comes to patriotism and preparedness
 along these lines" Mrs. Katzenstein said. "We have awakened to the neces- | sity of doing all we can for our coun- try and the question. Do we realize the seriousness of the war?' is answered by
 our varied and large activities in every 1 possible avenue. The high school boys | are volunteering for military training,
 the men from 8 to 40 are farming and
 constituting splendid phalanx ot the /, 'hcme guard and our women are buster