Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1920-07-31
RED CROSS MOTOR CORPS
EXTENDS ITS USEFULNESS
Practical Help TO the Community
Pointed Out by Hospital
Authorities.

The service If the Red Cross Motor
Corps since 1918. when this form OF
transportation was first secured by the
Delaware Hospital 10 convey children
crippled with infantilc paralysis Ia and
from their homes for treatment, has de
velopcd 10 a hsgh point of usefulness, &C
cordlng TO the hospital authorities Tho
follow-up work which Is being done by the
social service department could not poa-
sihly be done without this always ~
liable means If transportation, sayE
Mary l.. Cook, II NJ bead worker in that
department at the hospital, IN letter to
the Red Cross. Daily the motor cor, 'E
responds to the calls Of the hospital" abe
says AT a m. tho CAPTAIN II called on
the telephone and given n lust of the names
of tho patients who could NOT otherwise
get TO the hospital without the oxIrndi
turc Of strength, time or money. For
instance, a small boy left the ward who
was to return for dressings in the dis
penaary. He hal met with an accident
which resulted IN compound fracture of
the leg. skin grating was necessary. his
sister giving some ctticle for this purpose
The father had to leave work To bring the
children to the hospital and left them m
the waiting room II was noon before
their busy mother. with a family Of eight
children had time TO come and get them.
Now tho motor corps performs tins
humane service. For weeks II has brought
an Italian mother twice q day 20 nursc her
nine-months-old baby, who was III the
ward with a mastoid operation Types Of
other eases are two children with arm
amputations Zone Of them double
amputation(: blind old woman; many
crippled children every Friday morning
it regularly brings l. Of these little Grip
pies for treatment
Every clinic has its share Of patients
who otherwise might not come ON the day
designated by the disponsary physician #
they were not followed up notified TO he
ready and brought TO the hospital
THE preventive work, so much en-
phasized these days, could not be carried
on so satisfactorily in connection with the
Delaware Hospital dispensary work with
out this spirit of genuine interest on the
part of this splendidly organized corps,
which is shown by their prompt, reliable
action In responding 10 each call.
Emergency calls are often cared for, as,
for instance, not long ago one Of the staff
physicians visited patient at Rockland
and wished her admitted at once for an
operation The Motor Service responded.
The patient needed to recline and the
Young women driving made her comfort
able with pillows and blankets and drove
carefully. Another time a child was
brought in to the dispensary without
any member of his family. He had fallen
and broken both arms After first aid the
Motor Service took him home and gave
the mother the message that he was TO re-
port 10 the hospital in the morning for an
A-ray.
"All arrangements for the use of the
service are made by the social worker of
the hospital, with every effort TO conserve
the time of the corps workers by seeing
that the patients secure treatment as
promptly as possible, taking into con-
sideration the time of the busy physicians.
If unavoidable delays occur, the young
wefnen stay on duty overtime or return
during their lunch time to take patients
home The social worker docs not hesitate
to saw that without this assistance it
would be impossible to carry out the
treatments as prescribed by the physician
for patients who have left the hospital IN
q convalescent stage and who live some
distance from the institution. Some days
as high as 5 patients have been brought
TO the hospital The social worker is often
given the use OF a car to facilitate visiting.
A little Polish child in the hospital had
never spoken word of English until he
was being carried to the Red Cross car to
be taken home. When he saw the car his
face lit up with a smile and he exclaimed
Red Cross.