The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1919-01-01
OPERATE UPON
WOUNDED men
ON BOARD SHIP
Vessels Equipped for Giving Ex-
pert Surgical Aid.


Every Provision for Comfort Of SOL
diers After Arrival Made IN Advance
MANY Organizations Help in the
Work--Arny staffs Work Night and
Day In Handling the Returning
Troops Great Difficulties Sur
mounted.
For days there have been pouring
back to our shores tens of thousands
Of khaki heroes. Their tales of war
adventure have thrilled the hosts OF
civilian newspaper readers. In the
glamor Of their heroism there has been
lost to sight the less romantic,' vet
equally essential, work of other
branches of military service, repre-
sentatives of which have returned
with the warriors and have received
but scant attention. For instance,
tied up at the army piers in Hoboken
are two former Ward liners. now the
hospital ships Comfort and Mercy.
Each brought back to port In one week
upward of 400 badly injured soldiers,
many of whom were such desperate
cases that operations were necessary
while the ships were breasting terrific
seas on the way home,
The coast liners have been convert
ed from all semblance, except IN out
ward lines, to passenger ships. Each
is equipped with up-to-date hospital
apparatus, and each, so that expert
ments may be made even at sea, has
on the topmost deck farm yard"
tenanted by sheep. guinea pigs. white
mice, rabbits and chickens. There Is
an abundance OF available material for
dissecting and germ studying expert
ments.
Equipped as Hospital.
The Communicated ships have lost
the scores Of magnificent staterooms
that delighted peace-time passengers.
Most of them have been ripped out to
make way for berths for wounded
men. The dining rooms have been
converted into wards. Reading and
smoking rooms have been made into
laboratories, and operating rooms,
dressing rooTOs, instrument lockers,
dislnfeeting chambers, sterilizing
quarters, bandsge storerooms, etc.
On each of the vessels is a large
operating room on the promenade
deck, lighted with fully half hun
dred bulbs and equipped with six OPP
Grating tables. Adjoining is a smaller
room where minor operations are per-
formed.
Separate wards have been estab-
llshed for eye, ear and nose cases, for
surgical patients, contagious diseases
and for minor ailments.
The medical personnel of each Of
the hospital ships, an aggregate of for
ty for both, comprises expert special
lists who have volunteered for navy
service during the war and who have
been doing superb work in emergen-
cies on the sea.
Neither of the ships was originally
Intended to transport wounded men
home. Both were sent to foreign wa
tiers as floating hospitals attached to
our fleets, to be In readiness to re-
celve wounded cases Immediately af-
ter a naval battle or a scrlmmage
with submarines.
Encountered Bad Weather.
1t was with great difficulty that they
weathered the severe December storms
that impeded the progress Of such
ships as the Mauretania, the Adriatic.
the Lapland, the Orca and the Mime
kahda.
A sort of sub-hospital ship has been
working at HOboken for some weeks
in conjunction with the arrival OF
MANNED and sick troopers. She is the
Shlnnecock, under command of Lieut..
Collins, which in peace times used to
ply between Montauk Point and Block
Island.
She, too, has been equipped for
medical purposes and reconstructed to
hold many berths and cots. Every
day, sometimes two or three times a
day, she, edges against returning
transport and takes away wounded
men, -laAdlng them at the base hos
pltal on Ellis Island or-the Fox Hills
hospital on Staten Island. - -, -
.,.oood samarItans.
Not a small part of the work OF
nfransferring the men has been looked
after by scores or Red Cross nurses
under command of Col. Dorothy @.
ssmyley. head Of the ambulance diyis-
~lon of the Red Cross. Her workers
have seen to it. with the cooperation
of the National League for Women's
Service. that easy-ridlng military am
balances have been at the piers Ia
SUFFICIENT numbers. Red Crass nurses
accompany each ambulance and re-
main with the transferred patl en1s
until they have been safely placedsap
hospital cots.
A less vital, perhaps. but neyerthe-
less important work done by the Red
Gross women has been In the greet
lDes extended the returning troops
they have been at the pier edges
every time transports have pulled IN,
good. weather or bad, waving nags,
swapping jests, fiinging cigarettes