Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania - Record Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

Page 70 text:

MISS EDITH B. IRNVIN, R. N. I P Chief Nurse U. S. Army Base Hospital No. 20 6 6

Page 69 text:

Major J. B. Carnett, lVl. R. C., U. S. Army Director U. S., Army Base Hospital No. 20, U. of P. Here is the man who for months past has Worked day and night, Who has made untold sacrifices, who has foreseen and prepared for many needs, who has raised the Funds for, and who has added to the prestige of the-University Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania by the formation and the pres- entation to the government of the best equipped Army Base Hospital that this country owns-U. S. Army Base Hospital No. 20, U. of P. . f A. C. M. 65

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U. S. Army Base Hospital No. 20 CU. of PJ Napoleon said that an army marches on its stomach. Today it may be asserted With equal truth that an army fights on the efliciency of its sanitary personnel. On every hand the his- tory of modern Warfare bears out this statement. Were it not for the conservation of human life Wrought by preventive med- icine, improved methods of camp sanitation, and recent ad- vances in reconstructive surgery and the treatment of Wounds, long ere this disease and pestilence Would have terminated the present World-Wide struggle that for nearly four years has defied 'man's most destructive efforts. The vital role that the medical forces of an army play in the successful conduct of campaigns was fully appreciated by those in charge of the Medical Department of the United States Army. Long before the entrance of this nation into the present struggle this branch of the Army had organized a reserve and Was vigorously striving to perfect plans for the adequate and efficient care of our righting forces should the occasion arise. It,is not surprising, therefore, that when in the spring of 1916, Dr. George Crile, that distinguished surgeon fresh from the Western battle front, proposed the organization of the so-called Red Cross Base Hospitals as a preparedness measure in time of peace, his plan received the hearty approval and support of the Surgeon-General's office. However, it re- mained for Col. Jefferson R. Kean, as Director-General of the Department of Military Relief of the American Red Cross, to put Dr. Crile's plan into practical operation. Colonel Kean pushed this great project with such enthusiasm that by the autumn of 1916 a number of both Army and Navy Base Hospitals had been organized throughout the United States, and when this country declared War on Germany a consider- ably greater number of these units Was available. 67