THE FIGHT AT TRENTHAM

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 51, 25 November 1918, Page 6

THE FIGHT AT TRENTHAM

' A GRIM STRUGGLE

j. HOW THE MEN FARED

• The fight with the influenza plague in' I the camp at Trentham has been fought i and won. The number oi new cases uo- ; ing reported daily is now negligible, aud : iii the course of a few days all but the '■ very serious cases will be oustue con- ; valescent list. There is still a number of men in the hospital who are dangeri ously ill, but daily tho number of rej coveries will increase, iuul in .a couple j of weeks the hospital should be almost I empty. ■ '■ _ -It-has been a grim fight that the medical people and tho nursing staff have had, a fight against the most widespread and the worst epidemic that has ever I. fallen upon the camp. In the early I ptages the hospital was filled up with ; the men who had already paraded sick, i and then came the big influenza parades, iln one day there were 280 admissions to j hospital. There is good hospital ac- ! conimodation at the camp, but it was j never contemplated that thousands of j sick men would have to be nursed at the ! same time, and tho accommodation was i hopelessly inadequate. The medical • people did the only thing that they could I do; they turned the troops out of the j huts and sent them across to the tents at j Eeretaiinga, and made the huts into fiosipital wards. The men had to lie on I camp stretchers, on straw pallets. There j were no sheets, and not one man in a •hundred had a change of clothing at i hand. At first there wero in the Tints • men who were very, seriously "ill, but as [there was no room in the hospital they ! could not be moved. ' Gradually these (.cases were cleared from"the' hilts.- To-day : there are not more than a hundred patients wlio are not convalescent in the i huts. The nursing of these men.did not 'at any time amount to luorothan the j administering of medicine as ordered, (and the performance of such services as i the cleaning of the huts and theprovidl.ing of- food and drink. Medical Corps ,'jiien supervised and did such- work as ■ ; the taking of temperatures, but there I. were not nearly enough of. them to go ! round, and volunteers wero called for ; from : tho lines. The response was hot .'satisfactory, and many of the orderlies I proved to Iμ worse than useless. Voliini leering having failed, men were requisi- ! tioned for work in tho huts by day and i by night, and with a sufficient supply of ; men it was possible to staff all the lines.

[ As for the camp invalid food tho sick [men could not look at it. Most of l v .o \ men simply went without food. StiU'vo--1 tion did little harm to men really ill, i but men beginning; to recover could have i eaten light food if it 'had heen offcrimj. ; What they had to do was to starve nn- .; til they were well enough to eat etcw. ; In the main liospital the food was quite i good. The sick men in tho huts had a ; hard time, but for the most part' they I put up with it all without a murmur. ! In the main hospital tho patients were * treated with the utmost caro and atten- ! tion, and ninny of the cases were diffi- ; cult. Nurses worked cea.selos.sly. Their ! -faces showed the grey pallor of exhaus--1 tion, but never did their voices sound hard or theb weary feet grow slow. By ;their iiiir"iiiittintr care the lives of many ! men must havobecu saved. They were

at their u'iU end when help came. A detachment of Mahono men caino first, then n party of trained Medical Corps men from Awapuni, and about the samo time some women A'.A.D.'s. All the now helpers have done splendid work ever since they came, and their aid*lias saved tho nursing stall' from breakdown. Sei'i--0115 cases not yet admitted to hospital are now grouped in two hospital huts, iu charge of Medical Corps men, sufficiently experienced to know the real condition of a patient. Practically all the patients still scattered through the lines are now* convalescent. The medical oilicers havo done- their utmost. They-have had but little time to spare for patients not dangerously ill, but not a serious case has ever been overlooked by the negligence of any doctor. Tho staff suffered a serious loss by the death of Major Sale, certainly the most popular medical man in camp, but the others carried the extra load,

It is easy to make much of the hardships suffered by the patients, but not nearly so easy to (suggest how they might havo been eased. The -rough treatment was made as safe as possible, and the roughness was inevitable. Men could lift iivo under worse conditions for the spread of infection than did the soldiers in camp. In any military camp" a disease like influenza must spread. No precautions can prevent it. The sickness was virulent, especially at first, but generally the cases were not severe. Most of the deaths havo been from pneumonia, and in some cases the pneumonia became septic. These cases were almost always fatal, but they were few. If cases aro taken early and carefully treated, pneumonia should not occur, and healthy people will recover from mere influenza, although they may have a bad time. The sickness ran its course rapidly through the troops, and it can bo said' that the epidemic has been got under in Treutham.' . AN APPRECIATION FROM FEATHER. STON. In camp orders the commandant at Featherstou Military Camp "wishes to endeavour to express the appreciation which all those affected and their relatives must feel for the noble work done by those responsible for looking after the sick during the. recent awful epidemic. No words in the language could pay an adequate tribute to the work of the principal medical officer, the doctors, the nurses, and other members of the Medical Corps, and the work of those other noble ladies, officers, n.c.o.'s, and men who acted a3 an emergency hospital staff. To those officers, n.c.o.'s, and men who toiled early and late at unusual work in the matter of the burial of the fallen, and of the sad details appertaining thereto, to the chaplains, and to every officer, n.c.0., and man who did usual and unusual work so cheerfully and well, to those people of the surrounding districts who supplied countless delicacies to the sick; to the ladies who worked long- hours in the hospital cookhouse under strenuous conditions cooking delicacies, the commandant wishes to endeavour to express appreciation of duty nobly don«. Awful as the recent epidemic was, it at least had the effect of bringing out all that was best and noblest iu those who had to deal with it. To the relatives of those who havo fallen all ranks will surely express their great and sincere sympathy." ' >.'

Ono Fresh Case in Three Camps, Like the state of affairs in the city and its suburbs, the position in (he camps is good (according to official reports). In the three camps in the Wellington district only on« niiin was admitted to hospital on Saturday. There are now 100 serious cases in the camps. Details of the health reports are:— Featherston. Paraded sick i Admitted to hospital 0 Serious cases, 60 Awapuni. Paraded sick it. 1 Admitted to hospital 0 In hospital 15 Serious eases '0 'iTentham. Paraded sick ..; '. 2 Admitted to hospital 1 In hospital 1173 Serious oases 39