AN AMBULANCE SOCIETY FOR BLENHEIM.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXIII, Issue 227, 27 October 1887, Page 3

AN AMBULANCE SOCIETY FOR BLENHEIM.

; : * To the Eprcoß. Bir,— The'reoent lamentable death from drowning made evident the f aot that much ignorance prevails as to what is best to be done m such an emergency, and by parity of reasoning we may presume m other emergencies also. It must be patent to all that, m cases of accident, especially where animation ie suspended, as after drowning and hanging, that the sooner remedial measures are employed the creater the chances of recovery. The ▼ital spark may be rekindled, though apparently extinguished, but no time should be loßt. The means adopted to restore suspended animation after drowning are simple enough when fairly understood and when practised intelligently are a greot belp to the medical man when he arrives on the acene. In like manner the remedies to be first made use of m such eases as a Bevered artery, fraoture, dislocation, and to gome extent also m burns and soalds, are of suoh nature tbat anyone of ordinary intelligence conld put them into practice, provided he had had previous instruction. Well, it is just the want of previous instruction which militates against tbie, renders the well meant efforts of bystanders futile, and causeß valuable time to be lost. To overcome this ignorance haa been the aim of the "St. John's Ambulance Society," whose members pive practical expositions of the best and readiest means of affording assistance and relief m ease of aco d> nt. Branches of this Society are already establish* din some of the larger towns m the Colony, and doubtless would meet with a fair amount of success if planted here. We have medical men who are able, and I doubt not equally willing to act the part of instructors, and I am sure tbat there are maDy— both men and women— who would gladly Bpend a little time and money m learning how beat to be of service to their fellow creatures m the time of accident. Jupt two instances wbifh have come under my own personal j observation ; these, though very similar to each other, terminated m quite an opposite manner. The first was th tof a collier, wbo, while followiog his occupation, sustained a wound m the leg which severed en artery; for want of a very small amount of knowledge, he bled to death before a doctor reached him. In the second I was a participator— a man had fallen through a plate glass window and cut one of his arms severely, dividing an aitery. Medical aid was promptly sought, but thoDgh the place swarmed with doctors none were to be had at the moment,. When I Baw the sufferer no time was to bs lost ; a tourniquet, hastily improvised with a couple of handkerchietß and a piece of stick, promptly arrested the bleeaing, and after a stimulant, the patient was conveyed m a cab to the hospital. Head it not been for this apparently trivial seme • timely rendered, thiß man would as surely have bled to death as did the former. Such c sea sb these, with that of the poor drowned infant, do more to impress one with the necessity for ready help m the time of emergency, than any number of newspaper articles or platform speeches, and he who has seen his extemporised and crude attempts at relief crowned with success, cannot fail to be thankful for tbat success, and will certainly do his best to extend to others that knowledge which he has found to ba co valuable. —l am, etc., T. H. Htjstwick.