Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 168, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1915 — FIRST AID TO INJURED [ARTICLE]

FIRST AID TO INJURED

RAILROAD TRAINS ITS EMPLOYEES TO RENDER IT. Explicit Instructions as to What to Do in Cases of Emergency Are a Part of the Training Considered Necessary. To be mentally alert, physically sound, with unimpaired eyesight and hearing is not all which is requisite nowadays if a man wishes to become a par} of the Service of one of our large railroads. The members of a train crew on this road must possess, in addition to the above requirements, an actual working knowledge for the proper administering of first aid whenever an accident occurs. Formerly much valuable time was lost when, as was often the case, accidents occurred many miles from where doctors and nurses could be procured to relieve the sufferings of travels. To meet such an emergency a first aid school has been established, which is attended by the employees of the road, where lectures are given by physicians and practical demonstrations of the proper and most efficient manner in which to bandage a broken arm, stanch the blood from a severed artery, or how to give the simple respiratory treatment when (he victim has inhaled smoke or noxious gases are witnessed by the B u P ils at every session. Hurrying from traiif to ferry the other day the writer’s attention was attracted by a crowd at the farther end of the terminal. A huge canvas sheet had been strung across the great concourse at one end, and into this curtained space the crowd was curiously peering. In the well filled auditorium an audience, composed almost entirely of men, was intensely interested in what certainly was a most peculiar proceeding on a railroad ferry pier. “There’s a contest on today and they’re giving prizes. The railroad employees’ first aid to the injured teams are in competition,” explained the young man in charge. This then accounted for the presence of the uniformed nurse and half a dozen professional looking men, evidently physicians, one of whom was speaking at }he time, and three others being seated on a raised platform who were to act as judges. At the moment the physician was saying that some broken forearms would now be set. He went to give instructions about how this should be done. As the physician talked several men, wearing the uniform of the railroad, commenced to remove coats, vests, collars and tjps. the speaker concluded with: “Now, men, get to work and reduce a fractured forearm.” These men. arranged themselves into four groups, six men in each group, stepped forward to the front of the place and began to unwrap packages of gauze. Each team of six was composed of three “doctors” and the same number of "victims.” The arms of the “victims” of a supposititious accident hung loose and limp. Each “doctor” gently raised a forearm to the proper angle for comfort, then quickly laid a wooden splint to the injured member, deftly, swiftly and securely adjusting the yards of gauze bandage until the arm and splint were bound together. During all this time the physician judges were taking notes and the nurse went around among the men telling them that the “victim” must be careful to act as if he had a really disabled forearm; the intention evidently being to make as realistic as possible conditions whjch would exist at the time of such an accident —Exchange.