STARS AND STRIPES WITH TEE RED CROSS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3175, 28 August 1917, Page 5

STARS AND STRIPES WITH TEE RED CROSS

■America:-. ■> take over six big I:-? 'i iiELD HOSPITALS. Qui'ji v\ v.lth very, little ceremony, '■'<> .').■• ;-. . jap* practically all but official β-s ?i'.-: . American doctors, nurses, and c"!,'.-.: : flcn'liivo taken over six of tho ii,- :l: ■ srtst general field hospitals, xe:.w , tho Knglish staffs for duty new then- front (writes the correspondent of the American Associated 'Press from British Headquarters). American surgeons_ have been rendering valuable aid also_ in the forward casualty clearing Stations during 'tho Battle of Messinra. a his. has been the quickest organised aid tho United Stales has given to the British arms in France, and has been greatly Appreciated. Tho Americans have been much impressed by the cordiality of their welcome s>6 well as by the thoroughness iand effectiveness of the British hospital system. So smoothly have the transfers •been mado that the Americans have mp their now work without even a mo. nnent s upset in the routine nf the varituis hospitals. The Stars and Stripes fly with the British Union Jack from fcach hospital flag staff, the two nnsigns fluttering sido by side in the cool breezes ■that sweep in from tho sea. The Hospitals. ' Tho British selected their hospital kites with tho greatest oaro and have developed them with a completeness that lias como from nearly three years' field experience. Somo of tho general hospitals aro mado up of touted wards accommodating forty to sixty beds each. Others aro composed of a scries of huts. ■Both styles aro models of field comfort and convenience. Tho operating theatres ore- well built, and seem to lack nothing M tho way of modern surgical equipment Originally planned for 3040 beds each, tho gonoral hospitals have been practically all enlarged to 1-100 beds, and during a crisis can accoimnodato 2000 patients. The units which have taken over tho .various hospitals wero organised by the American lied Cross as "United States Base Hospitals" and. with the declaration of war these staffs were turned over to the regular army for sen-ices as required. Each unit has brought along an organising director who was a surgeon in civil practice, but now takes command as a major iu tho Unit-od Slates Reserve. The commanding officer in each unit is a regular American army surgeon, whilo tho subordinate members of tho staffs aro made up of regular army surgeons and doctors commissioned from civil lifo. The nurses arc all graduates of well-known training schools, and will probably bo supplemented soon by voluntary aid detachments of young women worker?, such as are now attached to tho various British staffs. Tho non-commissioned orderlies and private* wero practically all taken from civil life, but, in keeping ■with the doctors and nurses, have settled into their work with marked efficiency and enthusiasm.

Each American hospital staff .has also Crganised a mobile vuit for service in tho casualty clearing stations just back of the firing lines for emergency work during the first days of great battles. The American hospitals present an interesting international study, with pa-' tients from England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Portugal. Steps will be taken soon to increase the various units- and bring them up to the Ktrenqth required for enlarged hospitals. 'American doctors and nurses have already acquired the tea habit, which they enjoy every afternoon with the convalespont wounded.