The McDowell times. [volume] (Keystone, W. Va.) 1904-1941, 1936-10-23
Lishts Of NewXork
byL. STEVENSON

SVcS vi Tie dlT, Oh OtiiCA SASioASs
except SOS, are silenced immedi-
ately, AS is SOS, MEDICO is an
emergency call but MEDICO is an
emergency for an individual and
not for ship. In other words, it
means that somewhere on the high
seas a human being is facing death
because of accident or illness. There
still are ships that do not carry
doctors, though officers Of all
American vessels are required by
law to have had first aid inStruc-
ton. If the emergency is too serious
for the master and his officers to
handle, he sends out the call to-
gether with a description of the
trouble. The message, received by
the Radio Marine corporation, goes
Immediately to a physician of the
United States public health serv-
ice. No matter the hour of day or
night, or no matter how many thou
sands Of miles away the patient
may be, he receives the benefit of
medical skill Immediately.
Varied indeed are those messages
that start with the call MEDICO.
Down near the Galapagos islands,
big bug bit a sailors hand. The
hand swelled rapidly and the fore
arm became affected. Ordinary
treatment brought no results. The
public health doctor recommended
saturated solution of epson salts
together with soft diet. After some
further exchange of radiograms,
came the captains report: Patient
recovering rapidly. Thank you" A
sailor off the coast of California
developed an abscess on his leg.
Hot applications and an opiate
brought relief. A fifteen-year-old
girl swallowed an open safety pin.
Not much could be done except
give her an opiate and put into the
nearest port. But an ambulance was
waiting there and an operation
saved her life. So it goes "a hours a
day.
In checking the spread Of conta-
gious diseases, MEDICO also plays
its part. For instance, when seven
cadets aboard the California State
school ship, became i'll with menin-
gifts, the Grace liner Santa Paula
vas contacted through MEDICO and
serum was transferred to the school
ship. No further cases developed
There have also been a number of
instances where MEDICO h a s
caused liners to deviate from their
courses so that surgeons might per-
form emergency. operations. The
service has been in existence for the
last Is years. It started with a small
wireless station at the Seamen's
Church Institute through a $4,000
gift from the late Henry A. Laugh
lin Of Philadelphia. Later Owen D.
Young and David Sarnoff became
interested and took over the opera
ton to the RCA network.
Speaking of the Seamen's Church
Institute brings Mrs. Janet Roper to
mind. To sailors she's Mother Ro-
per-" AS head of the missing sea-
mems bureau, during the last 81
years, she's succeeded in locating
more than 5000 vanished sailors for
worried mothers and wives. She has
established contacts with sailors
missions and sailors boarding
houses all over the world and each
month she mails to those places a
bulletin containing the name, age
and description of each man she is
seeking. The bulletin is posted in
places where seamen congregate
and scanned by men of ships of all
nations. There is one significant
line: This bulletin is not published
to locate those sought by the law"
The addition was made necessary
by lawyers and collection agencies
seeking to find sailors through
Mother" Roper's bureau.
Mrs. Roper knows her sailor men.
For AZ years she has been doing
seamen's mission work, having
started teaching a sailors Sunday
school class in Boston at the age
OF sixteen. Subsequently, she was
connected with missions in Glouces-
ter, Mass, and Portland, Oregon.
She is the only member Of her
family who has been connected with
the sea in any way. In addition to
heading the missing seamen's bu-
reau, she is also house mother.
Mayor LaGuardia has succeeded
In putting the Park avenue push
cart men under cover. The push
carts of the past were not down in
the snooty sector where the railroad
tracks run underground but up
where they travel on an elevated
structure with big stone arches. A
market was built under the tracks
and the pushcart men went into
business there, the city charging a
nominal rental. Those with whom
interviews were attempted were
evasive as to what difference the
move made in trade conditions.
Business could be better, they adj
mitted, and at the same time, il
could be worse.