US Naval Hospital Corps School - Yearbook (San Diego, CA)

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Inspection: Hospital Corps School Personnel oiimst V Enlisted Barracks: Hospital Corps School ,f .-. 'Y W El? - 51 yi-'s Q ' ,515 wt-I.. ,- , ,Q ' fl lg ft N . ,. , ,.- '.'-- - . . ,, L. L A i . ., L, 5, ?,Qffw'4-A A .59 V A , U I in '1 'L+ is la Jzfrfii. 'f-iififsfif . 5 ' mf , ' A ' 4 ,L : rf -M W 'ilk --X fri, A- f-gg, . -if .W-,L-, .W ,, , -f ' ,Jw -Mr. ' 4, ,k-- A- 5 ' A V , wg. ,gi efit Y 1 r gf? t i ,W 4 .' L t -Arla : f M-H' 'W X Q, f 0'.,:'fff' A ' A . ' if 1 5264. ., 1 Q - Q-if V .

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HISTORY OF THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT The story of the Medical Department of the United States Navy is one to arouse pride and stimulate enthusiasm in every American citizen. Such continuous, and at times stu- pendous strides forward, have been taken in the quality of the medical care provided for personnel of the Navy and Marine Corps as to be almost unbelievable. It is good to note and give thought to just how far we actually have advanced beyond the conditions of ignorance and neglect that were prevalent in the eighteenth century. Then, disease and pestilence were rampant, and a severely wounded sailor had little hope of survival, now, the mor- bidity rate in the Navy has been reduced to the lowest point in history, and in the Korean Conflict the mortality rate for Navy and Marine Corps personnel who had been wounded in combat was only 2.0 per cent, truly an all-time low. The practice of naval medicine in America had its be- ginnings late in 1775, when the first American fleet was placed in commission by acts of the Continental Congress. Physicians originally were selected by commanders of naval vessels to serve on individual voyages, and often were assisted only by the oldest or most incompetent of the seamen on board. Much of the financial reward the Surgeon could ex- pect consisted of a share in such booty as the ship might capture. In 1798, when the Navy Department was established, sur- geons and surgeons' mates were given the status of commis- sioned officers, but then and for the next 44 years there was no medical department, only individual officers who were not organized in any sense. During this period, there was only gradual evolution toward adequate medical support of the Navy. A Marine Hospital Fund, made up of monthly pay- ments from all seamen and later augmented by money from fines and forfeitures, was established to finance hospitals. Most hospitals were in unsatisfactory buildings selected with- out plan, and a major accomplishment of the Fund was mak- ing arrangement for building the first permanent hospital, at Norfolk, Virginia. This hospital began to receive patients in 1830. Other hospitals, financed by regular appropriations, soon followed-in Philadelphia in 1833, in Boston in 1836, and Brooklyn in 1838. Throughout this first portion of the nineteenth century, a number of able and energetic physicians fought for a well- organized and adequately-equipped medical department. Their efforts resulted in considerable improvement in the quality of professional personnel, in medical equipment and supplies, and in quarters for the sick on board ships and at hospitals ashore. Notable among these men were Edward Cutbush, Usher Parson, Lewis Heerman, and William P. C. Barton. Doctor Barton, in particular, made numerous contributions that had a great and lasting- effect in improving medical care. He was an early advocate of increasing the space as- signed as a sick bay on board ship, and of standardizing equipment and supplies for the medical departments of ships. He also was responsible for establishing a medical library in each naval medical unit and for instituting a medical journal on each patient, however, his proposal for utilizing female nurses in hospitals went unheeded for two generations. Perhaps his greatest contribution was in writing his Treatise Containing A Plan for the Internal Organization and Government of Marine CNavyJ Hospitals. Certainly this classified treatise and his continuous efforts had much to do with the establishment in 1842 of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, which was created to supervise naval medical affairs along the lines he had proposed. Most appropriately, he was named the first Chief of Bureau. fThe title of Surgeon General was not created until 1871 and was first held by William M. Wood, the fifth Chief of Bureauj From its inception, the new Bureau made notable progress in organizing, developing, and perfecting naval medicine. Fascinating accounts of many aspects of this progress can be found in the reports to the Secretary of the Navy made each year since Civil War times by the Chief of Bureau or, after 1871, by the Surgeon General. This unbroken series of annual reports has been of great value to students of preventive medicine, vital statisticians, and public health