CASUALTIES

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4535, 11 February 1942, Page 4

CASUALTIES

AS RESULT OF EMERGENCY METHOD OF TREATMENT At a meeting of the Central Executive of the Te Awamutu Emergency Precautions Service Organisation on Monday night, Mr S. C. B. Macky, a member of the Waikato Hospital Board, read the following memorandum drawn up by the Morrinsville E.P.S. covering the methods suggested to be used in providing for the treatment of casualties which may arise in the case of national emergency : “There are two schemes providing for the treatment of casualties that may arise in the case of national temergency : “1. Emergency Hospital Organisation: Under this organisation which has been set up through the instrumentality of the Department of Health, the whole of the Auckland Province has been constituted a district for the purpose of dealing with emergency hospital accommodation. “2. Emergency Precautions Scheme: Under this scheme the local committees established in the various centres are required to provide for one or mere advanced aid posts in the event of trouble occurring in the particular area to provide for such cases as do not require special hospital treatment. “In the ordinary course of events your Emergency Precautions Service would provide for one or more advanced aid posts in the event of trouble occurring at Morrinsville, and should there be any serious difficulty in transferring patients to the base hospital at Hamilton or in our establishing a temporary hospital in your district in the event of trouble, the Hospital Board might commandeer any private buildings or hospitals considered suitable. Unless, however, the number of serious cases or the state of the roads compel us to take some other course, we would probably arrange for any serious casualties to be brought here. “The Hospital Board has provided for a considerable quantity of equipment with which to establish one or more temporary hospitals and also advanced aid posts in the Board’s district. Just where these temporary hospitals would be placed would depend entirely upon the nature of the trouble and the localities affected. “It is only necessary for your Emergency Precautions Scheme to arrange for one or more buildings to be used as advanced aid posts in your town and to ensure that the buildings and necessary equipment, etc., are available in the event of an emergency arising. In the meantime there is no need for your committee to go to any expense in the matter. “The Hospital Board could supply you on loan, a box containing dressings, equipment, etc., and say six stretchers for the advanced aid posts set aside by your committee. These, however, should be stored at your office and the box kept locked and only used at the advanced aid posts in the case of emergency. In the event of the equipment, etc., being used in the case of emergency it is understood that your Council would be required to pay the Hospital Board for the cost of same. In the meantime, no action is being takerj f to charge for any equipment, etc., which may be supplied to your E.P.S. Committee, as in the event of no emergency arising they would be returned to the Hospital and taken back into stock. Your Committee should make a survey of the necessary supplies held by chemists and others which you may require to purchase for use in an emergency. “In the event of it becoming necessary to establish an emergency hospital in your district, that will be undertaken by the Hospital Board. The Hospital Board, in a state of emergency, has authority to commandeer buildings, beds, mattresses, etc. “It may be explained that the Government has placed the full responsibility for the establishment and maintenance of any emergency hospitals upon the local Hospital Board under the general supervision and direction of the Department of Health. In the original Emergency Precautions Scheme as set out in the Hand-book issued by the Government, this point perhaps was not clear. The line of demarcation and responsibility between Hospital Boards and the local Emergency Precautions Committee is now as follows :

“The Emergency Precautions Committee is responsible for first aid treatment at any advanced aid posts set up apart from a public hospital and for transport to any hospital, while the Hospital Board takes over the patient at the hospital door and assumes full responsibility for any subsequent treatment.” The memorandum was referred to the Supply Committee for attention.