The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-05-04
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
MORN A TON
Blu RE A u
WOMEN DOCTORS IN
FRANCE
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington. D. C.

FRANCE.
Washington, d. c., May DIR.
Esther Lovejoy, an American woman
who has been working under the Red
Cross in the devastated regions of
France. has just returned to this
country on a short leave of absence.
Her chief purpose is to lecture for the
Red Cross on the subject of French
refugees about whom Americans have
heard so much and about whom, for
tunately. there is still SO much of a
distressing character to hear.
DR.. Lovejoy has worked in the dis
pensaries established by the Red Cross
turnout the war-riden provinces,
sometimes treating as many as hun
dred cases a day-mostly children and
old people who had fingered too long
in the path of shells and gas There
are thousands of these who succeed
in escaping the invading enemy. and
there are also thousands who are
dragged across the frontier by the
Huns and are then poured back into
France-broken and useless
And of all the refugees. the latter
are perhaps the most pathetic fig
ures. Evian-les- Banis, a small town
on the Swiss frontier, is the place
thru which this constant stream of
refugees is diverted back into France
pleasure resort, patronized by the
wealthy and pleasure-loving of all
Europe. All that nature could afford
in the way of cards, wine. music and
dissipation combined to make Evian a
delightful refuge for the idle rich.
Now, according to Doctor Lovejoy.
it is the refuge of the most miserable
mass of humanity the world has ever
known. All the elaborate hotels that
formerly sheltered frivolous. well-fed
tourists, have now been turned into
Red Cross hospitals for the sick and
helpless, she says, one of the very
finest being used as a children's hos
pital for contagious diseases and an
other being used as parasitic skin
disease hospital-a delousing station
A building that once housed a fash
ionable boarding school is now a nome
for the aged.
Everyone who is strong and able
bodied. man or woman. is enslaved
by the Germans and is either retained
in Belgium or sent back to Germany.
This includes all men, who are at
once made prisoners. as we'll as young
married women with only one child,
and young boys and girls over six
teen, The rest-the aged, infirm, in
sane, tubercular, and the children
are sent back to France thru Evian.
The policy is to drain the country of
den it with as many military culls''
as possible.
France has already done as much
as can be expected of any government
for it's refugees; the situation now Is
one that calls conspicuously for the
efforts of the American Red cross
Twelve ambulances belonging TO the
Red Cross meet each train of incom-
ing 'repatries,' as they are called,
icfr
ious homes and hospitals to which
they are assigned. Almost all the
refugees are in need OF medlcai at
tention and visit to the delouslnS
station, which is not surprising CON
sidering the conditions under when
they have been living while under the
The children must be put thru
careful physical examination oeIore
being passed on into the th1ckly pop
ulated districts of France, says Doc
tor Lovejoy. One case of diphtheria
which escaped attention caused an
epidemic in Lyons that has not yet
been entirely stamped out. There is
a great deal of tuberculosis among
these children, so that the Red Cross
has had to establish several children's
tuberculosis hospitals to take care OF
them. But there is hardly children's
disease, known or unknown, that does
not appear at some time or other. The
American child specialists VINO are
working with the Red Cross in car
ing for these refugees are discovering
some entirely new diseases.
All of these children, says Doctor
Lovejoy, are hurt-morally, mentally
and physically. Their bodies may new
er entirely recover from these early
days of exposure to the cold and mall
nutrition; their minds will always feel
the effect of the nervous strain and
shock, and their dispositions are apt
to be permanently suspicious and NOR
bid Many of the children can't re-
member who they are or where they
are from.
One of the first places to which the
refugee is taken in EVANS is to the
public baths, where he is given a good
scrubbing. While this important cere-
mony is going forward, his clothes
are put thru some machinery in an
adjacent room and come out thoroly
Then the name of the
refugee. together with all the details
of his history, is entered on filing
card, which is a part of a well-organ-
relatives or friends passing thru the
town, or coming there to search for
him. may find him.
As soon as the repartries are able
to continue their journey, they are
passed on to schools, homes and colo
MES in southern France, where they
re-educated and made self-support-
ing as quickly as possible. The women
sew on military uniforms; the young
boys work in gardens. and the chill
dren are taught lace making, basket
weaving and other useful occupations
There is a great need for American
women physicians to work among
these Trench war victims both at Evian
and in the regions recently devastated
by the invading German army. Doc
tor Lovejoy was one of the first Amer
lean women doctors to offer her serv-
ices to the Red Cross after the United
States entered the war. Now there
are thirty American medical women
serving with that organization. In
addition to these. the American Wom-
ems hospitals-an ganization formed
by American women doctors upon the
entrance of this country into the con-
flict-has sent hospital units and
many individual women doctors
abroad.