The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1917-07-05
The American
Units Answer
War Call First

" ar V0ll CrSt
If the American had never done
anything else than organize, equip
and supply the base hospitals which
are now backing our armies it would
have justified its existence. OF
course it has done, and still is doing,
countless great things for America
and for the world; but its accomplish
ments in the line of base hospitals is
just now of prime Importance.
As briefly as it may be defined,
base hospital is an institution which
cares for the sick or wounded sold
ier from the time he is sent back from
the firing line, until he is able to be
removed to hospital in his own coun-
try.
1t is almost unbelievable, but never
theless fact, that until the American
Red Cross took hold of the task a
year ago, no nation in the history of
the world had ever organized a base
hospital until after the war had been
declared and the fighting begun, nd
the wounded men lay writhing on the
ground.
Always, of course, there have been
a few army surgeons with each -egi-
ment. who patched up the slightly
wounded and got them back into the
firing line as quickly as possible. AL
so, of course, there have always been
in all countries some sort of hospital
system for the care of the sick and
wounded when they got home.
But always the intermediate insti-
tuition, for the care and transportation
Of the sick and wounded between the
front and the home hospitals was
missing. This has invariably led to
terrible congestion Of wounded on the
battlefields, where thousands suffered
needlessly, lost arms and legs that
might have been saved, or died when
a little ccare would have preserved
them.
Col. jefferson Randolph kean, u.
S. A. Medical corps, director general
of military relief of the Red Cross,
has ikened the former organization
to bridge of which the end spans
were complete, but the middle SPAN
the base hospitals-was entirely lack
ing.
When a man is wounded in battle,
the method for caring for him is thus
modified of course, by varying condi
tions:
He lies on the field in No Mans
Land between the lines, or in the
trench until he is able to drag himself
away, or the stretcher bearers can
reach him, and carry him to one of the
little first-aid stations. These are
always very near to the fighting lines
sometimes in a part of the trench
where the men are fighting.
There the army surgeon stanches
the flow of blood, puts dressing on
the wound to keep out infection, binds
on splints in case of broken bones,
and makes it possible for the patient
to be moved to the little field hospital
short distance from the fighting line.
This field hospital is usually tent
sometimes a hut or barn or even a
space in the open air sheltered by a
hill or a clump of trees. 1t it really
little more than an enlarged first-aid
station, with capacity for not more
than 1875 wounded, who lie on the
ground on tarpaulins. There are no
beds, and seldom any cots.
From the field hospital the wounded
are taken, as rapidly as possible, to
the evacuation hospitals, still farther
from the danger zone. Each evacu-
ation hospital cares for the wounded
from three field hospitals. This, too,
is an emergency station, and has no
permanency. 1t is collection station
for wounded, where the worse cases
may be given little more attention
than has been possible before.
AS rapidly as the motor ambulances,
the hospital trains, the hospital ships,
or other agencies, are able to work,
the wounded are taken from these
collecting stations to the base hos
pitals, located at the army base some
where in the rear.
Here, for the first time, the wound
ed man finds himself in real hospital
in the hands of surgeons and nurses
who have the time to give hurts every
possible care.
He is put into real bed in real
hospital, supplied with X-ray, bacterio-
logical and pathological laboratories,
a diet kitchen presided over by skilled
cooks, and with surgeons and nurses
drawn from Americas most highly
trained to wait on him. If he requires
an operation, he is in the hands of the
best surgeons of the land, with the
finest surgical tools to do their work.
And the hospital has an ample supply
Of wound dressing, pads, splints, hos
pital gowns, surgical shirts-all Of the
thousand and one things a first-class
hospital must have
| That ia tho aaryice which the Amer