The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-11-04
AMERICANS AID
IN HEALTH WORK
OVER PALESTINE
American Medical Unit in.
Holy Land Tells of Efforts
to Further Plan of Santa
ton in Judea.


NEW YORK Nov What th,.
American Zionist medical unit has ae.
complished during the first wear of its
operations IN Palestine Is set forth sue
cmctly IN recent article In the Pales-
tine daily, Hadoshoth Ha-aretz, BY
Ut. J. NJ. Ruhinow. head OF the body
Of nearly so physicians and nurses dis
patched over a year ago to Palestine
by Hadassah. the womens Zionist or
ganization Of America
The American Zionist medical unit,
winch Is supported by the Zionist or
ganization OF American and the joint
dlstributicn committee began function
ing IN Palestine on Aug rs, 1918 Sum
mariE'ng the years work, Or. Rubi-
now makes a special point OF those
accomplishment of the unit which are
Of a permanent nature and which bays
an important bearing on the constuo-
tive efforts for the establishment in
Palestine OF national Jewish home
land.
These include,
Three hospitals Gin Jerusa lem.
Jatfa ana SRfed).
? Six dispensaries Jerusalem. Jaf-
ia, Haifa, Liberals, Safed and Hebron
:. Three meteorological institutions
Jerusalem, Jaffa and Safedl.
g. Two training schools for nurses
Jerusalem and Safedl.
D. An organized sanitary division in
1--WE cities Jerusalem Jaffa, Haifa,
liberals and Safedl.
Work of Hospitals.
The work of the hospitals is neces.
sarlly limited because of the lack of
adequate buildings with the appro o.
priation which the unit receives ii can
not undertake extensive building oper-
atoms Baron Edmund Rothschild
placed his hospital in Jerusalem under
the control Of the unit, and the Roths-
child hospital in Safed was also placed
under the same control by the local
government In Jaffa the unit had to
use rented building. For a while
the unit also maintained hospital in
liberals in a building belonging to the
British consulate, But when the Brit ..
lsh consulate returned the medical unit
had to eNacuate. Another building Is
being erected for that purpose by Jacob
Il, Schiff, 100000 having been donated.
The Jaffa hospital is small, but the sys-
tenn employed there is most modern
and in keeping with the latest methods
of American hospitals. Practically for
the first time in Palestine provision
has been made for the proper classified
ton OF patients and for individual eX :
animation and treatment by specialists.
The medical unit has founded the first
meteorological station, the first Roent-
gen ray department, the first ward for
skin diseases, and It is establishing a
pathological station near the Rothschild
hospital
Clinic Work Popular.
The work in the dispensaries is con
tinually developing Heretofore, In Pal
esttnian clinics, one doctor was the au-
thority on all ailments Now. however,
everything is being done by specialists.
The number of visits to the dispense :
ries was something less than Is, 600 for
April and in May was %, 700. Remark
aDle work is being done In the three
meteorological stations as established
by the union. In April for example, 500
analyses were made; In May $50, Not
only the hospitals under the control OF
the unit, but also private practitioners
and private hospitals in order to make
certain of the correctness of their dag
noses send specimens to the unit sta =
tons for analysis
The training schools for nurses are
regarded as perhaps the most impor-
tarit piece of work that the American
Zionist medical Silnit has done This
work has the future in mind, II Is felt
that through these schools, hs,lth con
ditions will be greatly improved, and in
the prosecution OF this work many Pal
estinian women will obtain employment
The school in Jerusalem is the largest
with 80 pupils. The number is expected
rapidly to increase. II Is the only
school for nurses in the world where
the students receive their entire train
ing in Hebrew The pupils OF the Sated
schools win be required to undergo a
years training in the Jerusalem school.
As the pupils become proficient, the
task Of bedside nursing viii be turned
over to them. 1t Is expected that
within the next two or shree years it
win be come entirely unnecessary to
send nurses from America and that the
profession will become one of the recog
nized vacations of Jewish women In
Palestine.
Sanitary Division,
The improvement OF sanitary condi-
tons In Palestine Is q gigantic task,
and the beginnings made In this drec-
ton by A, NJ Y. T. are of no mean pro-
portions. During the war much time
and energy was spent in the struggle
with malaria and other endemic condi-
tons, The chief campaign of the san
itary division was against the mosquito
plague.
DR.. Samuel NJ Schmidt, one of the
original members of the sanitary divi-
vision of the medical unit who has re
Gently returned to this country, says
that as the British army moved north
ward in its last campaign the A. NJ, u.
U, sanitary squad moved up. taking
over the work which previously had
been conducted by the armys sanitary
section, thus saving what had already
been accomplished and making further
gains in the fight against malaria A
corps of native youths, including grad
yates of the Jaffa gymnasium, were
trained for this work, first by the army
and then by the units sanitarians.
No antimalaria work had been done
in Safed prior to the arrival of the
units sanitarians, who found Is per
cant ~ fbo inha hitnptg uppa Vintir,g