HOSPITALS READY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 69, 19 September 1944, Page 6

HOSPITALS READY

MEN FROM EUROPE^

U.S.A. ARMY PROGRAMME

A picture of the extent ■ of . Army preparedness in the -U.S.A. for caring for the wounded was given - recently by Lieut.-General Brehon B, Somervell, who" disclosed at Atlantic City that the Army already had provided in its 63 general hospitals throughout the country sufficient beds .for all casualties anticipated in the European invasion. ■ , •

In ceremonies dedicating a general hospital there, one of the newest and most modernly equipped of the. Army institutions,. General Somervell, commanding general of the Army Service Forces, said:

"No -matter how severe the fighting, no matter how high our list of'wounded, there will be a bed available for every man. hurt in his country's service. These hospitals are in operation now. They have enough beds to care for the total number of wounded anticipated in the • coming campaign. There will be a sufficient number of nurses to care for every wounded man. These hospitals : will be adequately staffed, they will be furnished with the very latest proven surgical equipment."; . \ .:-- •■ -.-.-<■■■-'■ ■

•In-a. tribute to Major-General N. T. Kirk, Surgeon-General of the- Army,; and the Army Medical' Corps, General Somervell said the department's insistence on innoculation of all.soldiers before going overseas had created- a record of not a single death to', date among the 7,000,000 men from typhus, typhoid, tetanus, plague, cholera, -V smallpox. . ■

. Considerable emptiasis was- given during a press tour of the hospital preceding the ceremony, to its extent sive facilities and the large number vpf .wounded soldiers who have been returned to full or limited Army service. Of 3242 patients admitted to the ' institution since September- 10 last year, 2583 have been restored to Army duty, 68 per.cent, of them to full duty ' thus helping to relieve the man-power situation. Of the 4760 beds, 2600 are tor physical reconditioning of men in' the so-called No. 2 stage of recovery in the average Army hospital the bed capacity reserved for the convalescent facility is usually about 20 per cent. The reconditioning programme is on an expanded basis. The trend is towards greater physical reconditioning until, it merges as the dominant-phase m the No. 1 or* final stage. In theNo. 3 stage men who were formerly kept m bed. are given crutches and are permitted to hobble around. Even thougn burdened by casts they receive | setting-up exercises, or various forms of physical and occupational therapy m which they make particular use of the wounded parts of their bodies "Graduation" takes the No. 3 men out of one hotel to another, where they are grouped into companies, on ' a regular Army basis, commanded by patient officers and subjected'to. strict discipline. The purpose "of "this-pro--gramme is to treat them for'r'eintroauction into the Army and- ."■ restore ' their "warmindedness." -The' ' largestpart of their time, however, is spent: ! m physical .exercise. When' they be- | come class I's they play regular games, ! including touch football. They have , reached the stage where they can be discharged from the hospital and restored to the Army when they complete a 15-mile, three-hour round-trip-hike: ■':■■■..