The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1934-11-02

wake; when floods and hurrt-
j canes, fires and earthquakes ex-
WA &Oplosions and epidemics take their
| @>M toll of human suffering and prop
R6M0 erty damage, then it is that
g % ~ those messengers of mercy, Amer
lean Red Cross officials and workers, mobilize
swiftly and speed to the place where they are
most needed
1t was only few weeks ago that word flashed
down from the north that fire had swept Nome,
Alaska, leaving that town, once famed as a gold
camp but now a modern American city, a heap
of ashes Within a few hours after the receipt
of this news a Red Cross relief director was
stepping into an airplane at San Francisco and
few minutes later he was winging his way
toward the stricken city.
When the Inflated MORO Castle" burst into
flames off the coast Of New Jersey, Red Cross
disaster units in coastal chapters of that state
Immediately rallied to the work of rescue, the
care of survivors and the reuniting of separated
families, relatives and friends. More than a
score of nurses were summoned from their beds
In the Chill dawn to take up long vgils on board
rescue vessels, in hospitals at piers and at
morgues. There they ministered to sufferers
from injuries, exposure shock and grief.
Andyet these spectacular examples were onlytwo
of the IS disaster jobs in the continental United
States in which the Red Cross was active during
the past year. Add to these, assistance given
in 20 insular and foreign catastrophes and the
aggregate is 103-just about the average for an
organization that has been shouldering this sort
of task through more than half a century
No part of the United States escaped some
sort of disaster, there being total of 1853 coun-
ties in which the Red Cross assisted 10000 vic
TINS Tornadoes and fires were the leading
agencies of destruction with 25 cases of each
necessitatfng Red Cross relief work
Besides these, II fioods-one of which took
the life of a Red Cross relief worker on duty
swept down out of the hills and forests to lift
houses from their foundations to destroy crops
and live stock, and to send refugees scurrying to
higher points Tropical storms hung up a new
record for frequency within a single year, and
for the first time in a hundred years a hurr
cane starting in the West Indies whipped with
undiminshed force as far north as the Virginia
coast.
There were also epidemics, cyclones, explo
sions hail storms, a typhoon, an earthquake, a
cloudburst and other emergencies which acted
to bring the Red Cross with shelter, food, medi
cal supplies, nurses, disqualification and rehabil
tation programs.
In the highest state of disaster preparedness
in history, the Red Cross introduced something
new when it conducted % disaster institutes at
strategic points in particularly vulnerable zones
Veteran disaster workers schooled local chapter
officers community leaders, police, fire and
health officials in the surveying of hazards and
organizing OF reHeI In the case OF q number OF
approaching storms disaster experts from ma
tional- Red Cross headquarters rushed to the
scene hours and even days in advance of the
calamity, saving many lives by the precautions
they invoked
Members of the Red Cross nursing reserve,
public health nurses. home hygiene instructors
continued one of the nations first lines of
health defense. More than 10000 nurses are on
the active list of the reserve, ready to respond
to calls from army navy or Red Cross disaster
service.
Several were dispatched to North Carolina
community stricken by pernicious tropical
malaria. Others were sent to cope wit ty-
phoid epidemic. Still others performed heroic
work in connection with forest fire in Cali
fornia canyon. To first aid station in connec-
ton with convention of Spanish-American war
veterans was assigned another group. And these
are only few instances from a record of varied
and numerous services given by this nursing
army which is always available for duty.
Some 750 public health nurses were regularly
employed by 424 Red Cross chapters for the
most part in rural territory. They made more
than million visits in line Of duty-giying