ARMY NURSING IN THE FIELD.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIII, Issue 12159, 24 March 1900, Page 4

ARMY NURSING IN THE FIELD.

(By S. W.) ■ The Transvaal War will be memorable ■for many reasons in the history of civilised ■Mother Country has fought side by side Hwitli her colonies from north and south, ■east and west. It is the first foreign war Hint which New Zealand has been engaged, ■it has seen the use of new weapons of wai■farc, and linn brought to the front generals ■hitherto unknown. But to the soldier him■self it will be remembered for the care and ■ even luxury bestowed on the wounded war- ■ riots by the Army of the Red Cross. ■ In the Crimea there was practically no. ■ provision made for nursing the sick till some ■ months after the army was in the field. ■ livery cart seized in the villages had to be ■ handed over to the Commissariat Depart■nu nt. Men were left on the field till the ■ battle was over, or occasionally a man would ■ be ordered to take his comrade to the rear. ■ Of organised rescue work there was none. ■'■Lieutenant-Colonel Steevens, in his “Cri- ■ mean Campaign,” relates that a lieutenant I who had suffered amputation was found by I Ms colonel on a heap of straw in a wretched ■ hovel —a Tartar cowshed—while, dead and ■ '■dying Russians lay in the other part of the I hut. ° The troops‘left England in the early I part of .1854, and till January, 1855, there I; were no regular hospital tents. Hie bell tents I which had to be used did not protect the I men from frost-bite during that severe wmI ter. When huts did' arrive there was no ■ means of transport, so they were put in store! All this is now changed. Since the ■ Crimea the Royal Army Medical Corps has been formed, and ns each division embarked for South Africa there was also sent a detachment of the medical service of proppr- . tionate strength. Marcus .Tindal, iii.“ PearBun’s,” describes the operations of the Royal Amy Medical Corps in the field. There are . now in South Africa 350 medical officers, i 2050 of the ranks, 56 nursing sisters, and * 800 men of the Army Service Corps for as- ■ instance in the transport of the wounded. ‘ The Royal Army Medical Corps is divided •. into three lines of assistance. The first line ; does all the work c.f rescuing the wounded ' from the field and taking them to the field hospital. The medical officer and his stretcher bearers g - o right up to the fighting line of the company to which they are attached, ;, and cany the men out of action as they fall. The medical officer performs first aid, and the stretcher bearers remove the wounded ■ out of, immediate danger. Here begins the i; work of the bearer companies, who take all xi ■ the wounded to one collecting station. Each stretcher has four bearers;, the two not actually currying the stretcher bearing the arms of'the wounded man. Mr Tindal thus dfctcribes the bearer company at work: "They are experts in the art of lifting and carrying the wounded so skilfully and so gently, that no jar may intensify the patient’s torture. They will

carry a stretcher ■up steps _or over rocks and keep it as level as a billiard table. They will improvise a stretcher with two crossed rifles, and a. coat that will be os restful as any bed. The length, of the pace is about 18 inches made with bent knees, like the gait of a man carrying a bucket of water on his head.” At the collecting station the treatment is confined to antiseptic dressing, temporary splints and arrest of hemorrhage. The men are then conveyed to the dressing station in ambulance waggons, and are- supplied with •water, wine and medical comforts. At the dressing station wounds are thoroughly examined and operations performed. Beef tea, food and stimulants are ready as the ambulance waggons discharge their doleful burdens. Each' wounded man, has here attached to him a, “ specification tally,” green if his case needs special care and attention, otherwise white. On this is set out the

nature of Iris wound, and the precautions required in transport. Prom the dressing elation the patients are carried in ambulances still rearwards to the field hospital, which is the second line of assistance. Each brigade has its own hospital containing 100 beds. The hospital tents can be pitched and everything .'prepared in half an hour, while ail can "be ready to move in three-quarters' of an hour Each hospital has four medical officers, R.A.M.C., and 19 privates of the Arm T Corps for transport duty. Here the sufferers vest till fit for further travelling or till fresh batches of wounded from the field of action fill the hospital. The wounded are next handed on to the third! line of assistance, which includes hospitals placed at easy stages, on the way to the coast, hospital trains, base hospitals on sea coast and hospital ships. An ordinary train fitted with special stretchers does.duty often for a hospital train, but in- South Africa there are now three properly. equipped hospital trains with kitchen ■waggons, medical stores, comfortable accommodation for patients, and plenty of room for medical staff. The base hospitals, which accommodate each 500 men. and 20 officer’s, are supplied with all medical and surgical equipment, including Rontgen Ray apparatus. Patients, whose recovery is likely to be long delayed are sent home in a hospital ship. Running between Durban and the Cape are two small ships, the “ Spartan ” and “ Trojan,” while at Capetown there are waiting for the wounded two large floating hospitals, the “Maine” and the “ Princess of Wales.” Mr Tindal thus describes the latter, /which lias been fitted- out from the funds raised by the Princess for Red Cross work during •the Soudan Campaign The various wards named after the Royal Princesses are all handsomely fitted, brightly lighted 1 , and perfectly ventilated. The whole breadth of the ship has been thrown into the principal, or Alexandra ward. The cots, arranged in two rows, consist of soft mattresses _ on light frames, fitted on a swinging principle as a set off against the rolling of the ship. By a clever device, each bed and patient can be lifted and taken for an airing to the promenade deck, and placed there on special trestles. Hundreds of ingenious little devices add to the wounded men’s comfort. Every bed, for instance, has a moveable frame that can be raised at any z a uric as a support for the head and back. Ori° the right is a small table which swings across the bed at the slightest touch, ready for meals, writing or as a support for books. Electricity furnishes all the light, propels fans for , circulating fresh air through every ward, heats the stoves, boils the water and works the laundry appliances. A complete installation of the Rontgen Ray apparatus has been fitted in the operating chamber, which is brilliantly illuminated with clusters of lights and contains every conceivable requisite for the most difficult or dangerous surgical: operations. The great refrigerating chambers of the .ship are filled to overflowing with lavish stores, presented in vast quantities by leading merchants and private persons. Thomas Atkins will fancy himself a sick king on board , the “Princess of Wales,” and at homo' in the Victoria Hospital at Ketley, there is -a white bed made ready, ’mid there is a nation’s greeting awaiting its heroes when the ship of the Red Cross comes to anchor.”