The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1917-06-07

phia to spend two nights under can
vas with the Presbyterian equipment.
The personnel and the physical proper
ties dovetalled In manner eminently
satisfactory TO the army officers In
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 1t 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
its 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, n matter OF
some detail, since its 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. well,
he went on, II guess I'll sign up for
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. | might as well go
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 OF
| first-ald stations. The former require
q high degree of physical fitness in
! their workers, but at a 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 calliDgs
and every age.
We've had everything here from
picture hangers to plumbers" said DR.
Sydney Burnap, who enrolled the force
1--WE 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 30 volunteer nurses aids, &c
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 Cross
training in Home Care of the Sick.
in the Presbyterian unit some of the
|
their husbands as nurses aids. Mrs
George e. Brewer, wife of the units
director, was one who had worked
hardest 10 fit herself to go along. Re
corders, indexers, stenographers anC
typists nearly mobbed the units offices
after the mobilization orders appeared
seeking chance to serve in the first
force to 90 to France.
With all of these 1t was another case
Of Mr. Brltling 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 theiI
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 unclassitied In army req
lations. They are a branch of service
sure to develop with the need ant
those who 20 over now are pioneers
in much the same why as were tn,
women Clara Barton organized into
Red Cross nurses in the days of tht
Civil war. Keeping the records of G0(
patients Is job In Itself. When IN,
800 change every few weeks the jot
J grows with the card indexes, TO SAY
nothing of their diagnoses and his
tories. There are acquisitions TO b,
made out, letters TO be answered anc
anxious relatives to be communicated
with. AS the units follow each Other
throughout the year, more women viii
probably be taken TO release the doc
tors from routine clerical work, just
as women will finally go as nurses
aids in order to release men for tn,
front
Would Scrub Floors.
But with the first instullments tn,
war office Is "from Missouri, and mus
be shown. So that at the Presbyterian
units enrolment Offices bitter dlsap
pontment spread among the rejected
No one knows what Mrs. Brewer sale
when she found that even the doctor
could not secure an exception in hel
favor, but some of the others were
outspoken.
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