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

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Army Base Hospitals differs in no Way from that of any Army General or Base Hospital. They are completely under mili- tary discipline and control and are responsible only to military authority. A As was to be expected from the institution that furnished the first Surgeon-General of any American Army and Whose sons have ever come to the front in all ti-mes of nation-al peril, the University of Pennsylvania promptly organized an Army Base Hospital and offered its services to the governmentf At present that Base Hospital, mobilized and fully equipped, is on active duty and is officially known as U. S. Army Base Hospital No. 20. Q It may be said Without fear of contradiction that no Base Hospital is better or more fully equipped than is Base Hos- pital No. ZO. This fact is a glowing tribute to the loyalty and unprecedented generosity of the friends and alumni of the University of Pennsylvania. The National Red Cross charged each of its local chapters With the duty of providing the funds for- fully equipping the Base Hospitals organized in their respective territories. It is a matter of record that the Base Hospitals organized in Philadelphia were never ac- corded the Hnancial aid to Which they Were entitled from the local Red Cross Chapter. As a consequence, it became neces- sary for those interested in the University Base Hospital to make a public appeal for its equipment and supplies. The thirty thousand dollars Worth of hospital equipment that every Base Hospital was required to purchase and store in time of peaceivvas provided for the University Base Hos- pital by the Harrison Fund. The sincerest thanks of every Pennsylvanian are due the generous donors of this fund, Mrs. Emily Leland Harrison, Mr. Thomas Skelton Harrison, and Mr. George L. Harrison, each of Whom contributed ten thou- sand dollars. When, after war was declared, the Base Hospitals were re- vo

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The physicians assigned to these Base Hospital units are commissioned as oflicers in the Medical Reserve Corps of the United States Army. One of their number is appointed Director. Upon this oflicer devolves the duty of selecting and organizing the personnel, as well as the task of purchas- ing and accounting for the vast amount of varied equipment required for one of these hospitals, which are organized on a basis of SOO bedsf The money for the purchase of equip- ment and all surgical supplies and dressings is supposed to be and in most instances has been provided by the local Red Cross Chapters. So long as a Base Hospital unit is not in active service it is under the jurisdiction of the American Red Cross. The moment, however, one of these units is mobilized and taken over by the government, it becomes a part of the Medical Department of the Army, subject absolutely to the orders of the Surgeon-General. VVhen the organization of a Base Hospital is assured its existence is authorized by the War Department and the hospital is given a number by which it is known thereafter. The Base Hospitals are numbered in the order of their authorization. Each Army Base Hospital has a commissioned personnel consisting of twenty-two physicians and surgeons, two den- tists, and a chaplain. When a hospital is ordered into active service the War Department puts it under the command of a regular army medical oHicer,.and also assigns to it an officer of the Quartermastefs Corps. ln addition to these oflicers there are with every Army Base Hospital, sixty-Hve nurses, one hundred and Hfty-three enlisted men, who belong to the enlisted reserve corps of the medical department, and six civilian employees. A corps of Hnurses' aids, twenty-five to fifty in number, have also been authorized for each Base Hos- pital unit. They represent an auxiliary nursing force, a re- serve to be called into service as occasion requires. Once on active duty, the conduct and administration of one of these 69

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quired to increase their equipment extensively, further appeals had to be made. With unfailing patriotism the public re- sponded and on January l, 1918, over 390,000 cash had been contributed to the University Base Hospital treasury. This money is carried in four funds: Clj The Hospital Equip- ment Fund, QZQ The Foreign Fund, QD The Personnel Fund, and Q45 The Nurses' Fund. Cash contributions were credited to the last three funds only by special consent of the donors thereto. In addition twenty thousand dollars Worth of supplies in kind have been donated to the Base Hospital and placed in storage. t A conspicuous example of unselfish personal service has been afforded by the Board of Women Visitors of the Univer- sity Hospital, Who, under the energetic leadership of Mrs. VVilliam W. Arnett, formed a University Base Hospital Auxiliary, raised 510,000 With Which they purchased the mate- rials out of which they themselves made enough surgical dressings, hospital linen, pajamas, shirts, etc., actually to over- supply the Base Hospital. Furthermore, they furnished the entire hospital personnel With complete outfits of knitted goods. As a result of their self-sacrificing labors the Univer- sity Base Hospital Was spared the necessity of paying to the local chapter of the Red Cross some eight to ten thousand dollars for hospital supplies. One of the many difficult problems confronting the organ- izers of Base Hospitals has been the selection of a sufficient number of properly qualihed nurses. This important task Was delegated to Miss Edith B. lrwin, Chief General Sur- gical Clinic Nurse of the University Hospital. The long list of well-tried and carefully trained nurses that appears on the roll of the University Base Hospital is sufficient proof of the rare good judgment and skill which she has exercised in making her choice. The prompt, Widespread, and Willing response with which her appeal for volunteers was met by the 71