American National Red Cross

“ During the first the long trains came in perhaps every hour with the wounded and the dying, huddled together with the refugees, all with that frightened look of horror in their faces. When they thought the people were dying they would be taken off at our station and we had arranged the waiting room into a place to receive them. When the tables were all full they would have to go on the floor—poor, poor people, sometimes you could hardly see for the blood that they were human beings, and they were mangled beyond words. ”

“ The evacuation of the camps, forced by the government on all those who had remaining houses or vineyards, while it worked hardship in some cases, was a necessary precaution for the avoidance of epidemics, and at this time the campers had been reduced by about one-half.
A share in the Adana relief work has been a privilege not alone as an opportunity for service, but it has been a still greater privilege to see the men and women there who, in sublime unconsciousness of self, are daily giving themselves to fill the swarming needs of thousands of destitute people. ”

“ It is a privilege, indeed, to send a grain of comfort to such people by our timely and sympathetic gifts, especially when such aid is so highly appreciated by all and so gratefully received by those who are losing hope. The one great thing needed to save the lives of children and aged is money. All that we earnestly desire is that every sympathetic heart should know the facts and use any channel that promises to bring speedy relief to even a few hundred among the many hundreds of thousands who are in dire distress. ”

“ At the same time that she is caring for a patient with a communicable disease, the attendant ought not to care for children or other members of the family, she ought not to prepare food, and she ought not to handle dishes or utensils used by other persons. Every day, however, many women are doing just these things, and it is true that in many instances no bad results are observed. Yet if any arrangement to insure safety can possibly be made, it is inexcusable to run the risk of spreading diseases which kill thousands of persons every year and injure many more for life. ”

“ Stricken by one of the great and mysterious forces of nature, thousands of her people were destroyed and thousands were left homeless, suffering, and in dire distress. Our people, overwhelmed by her misfortune, were glad, in the spirit of brotherly love, to take some share in her assistance.
That the Italian government selected as a token of gratitude an object around which clusters the great traditions of ancient Rome moves us deeply, and will be an inspiration for our Red Cross to continue constant in its efforts to conquer suffering and be worthy of such recognition. ”

“ Man in his primitive state and in his more civilized life believes there was a superior power for good, and his mind, requiring a material expression of that unseen source, used the serpent as a symbol of power and wisdom. Without this the rod of Esculapius would be impotent over disease and the wand of Mercury would have no authority over trade or commerce. The cultured Greeks, therefore, having great respect for the healing art, honored it with the most significant and expressive symbol of the highest attributes conducive to the welfare of the race. ”

“ THE RED CROSS SOCIETY OF JAPAN HAS ISSUED THE FOLLOWING REPORTS OF THE RED CROSS WORK SINCE THE OUTBREAK OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR UP TO SEPTEMBER, 1905.
War is the most dreadful thing that mankind ever witnesses. It is a horror in itself. So many men have been killed, wounded and invalided on both sides in our present war in the course of ten months that one is aghast at the number of casualties. ”

“ The battlefield was strewn with the bodies of men and horses, and with the battered forms of men in whom the spark of life still remained, they filled up the roads, they choked the trenches and the ravines, they lay piled in heaps in the bushes and the fields, everywhere for miles around the village of Solferino. ”

“ Of all symptoms pain is the one which interests patients the most. We here emphasize the truth, too little understood, that pain is an unpleasant sensation, nothing more, and is never imagined. Imagination may be its cause, but the pain thus produced hurts just as truly as pain produced by a real disease. Pain is only a phenomenon of consciousness; it is always real, even that felt in a dream. If the patient is too unconscious to feel it, there simply is no pain, no matter how badly the person's body is injured. ”

“ We all know that a large portion of the public does not realize the significance of the Red Cross, even in time of the most important functions. Confused by the many claims on its attention, this portion of the people hesitates as to the advisable course to take and ends by waiting for fuller information. It was, therefore, of the greatest assistance to the cause of practical relief that the President of the United States, in his proclamation [67] of the disaster, should point out the Red Cross as the proper depository for popular contributions. ”

“ A Chinese merchant rarely calls upon a male physician for his family, but an up-to-date woman physician is welcome in the families of the educated. Favorable as is one’s impression of the prosperity, intelligence and generosity of our Chinese friends; the advantages of enlightened medical knowledge and sanitary science among them in San Francisco, not to mention the vast interior of the Chinese Empire itself, cannot be overestimated.
It is one of the functions of the Red Cross to create and foster enduring friendship between nations. War is often the instrument of passion rather than equity. ”

“ With the knowledge that the red cross and Mercury’s wand are incorrect emblems, what, then, shall we consider the true insignia for the healing art?
The medical profession should be proud of the fact that a symbol has been handed down from ages past, though it was lost to some extent by those who forgot history and our traditions and desired something new for a device. The true ancestral symbol of the healing art is the knotty rod and serpent of Esculapius. ”

“ No heroes ever received a sadder welcome home, for they returned to find their mothers and sisters and wives wanting food. The absence of the men who had served their country so well meant the absence of so many able-bodied tillers of the soil. This and a cold and unusually rainy summer made the rice crop the scantiest for generations.
“These proud northern people have not the facility of city people in accepting charity. If you went into their houses you would find that they would deny that they were hungry and possibly offer you their last bowl of rice to show that they needed no help. ”

“ The whole field of caring for the sick offers nowhere greater opportunity for fine and finished work than it offers in the case of chronic invalids. It is an achievement of which an artist might be proud to make a chronic patient comfortable in body, happy in mind, and agreeable to others. Moreover, since success can never be attained by one who wearies in well doing, the care given to a chronic invalid tests not only the attendant's skill but also her moral and spiritual quality. ”

“ If knowledge on the subjects to be discussed is desirable in people on shore, I should say it is a necessity to the men who go to sea. Seamen have had to endure untold suffering, and many of them have lost their lives, or worse still, have become disabled for life, owing to ignorance of the very first principles of First Aid. By law the vessels are required to carry a medicine chest, but in the majority of cases not a single man in the ship’s company knows anything about the properties of the medicine.
The proposed lectures will be a blessing to the sea-faring men. ”

“ Our people give so liberally when disaster arouses their sympathy, but may we not hope that the time will soon come when, by gifts and legacies to its Endowment Fund, our American Red Cross may be possessed of such a certain income that it can “continue and carry on a system of national and international relief in time of peace, and apply the same in mitigating the sufferings caused by pestilence, famine, fire, floods and other great national calamities, and to devise and carry on measures for preventing the same.” ”

“ However much of credit may have been, and rightly, given to the Major for a heroism and courage in these days of terror that was the means of saving the lives of thousands, his wife is no less deserving of credit for a brave and tireless devotion to the needs of the wounded, which has done much to mitigate the suffering that followed these awful massacres. To this work she brought not only a love for the details of nursing, but a genius for organization as well, and a training that prepared her in a peculiar way to fill the need. ”

“ Two special departments will be noted in the Bulletin, one of the Relief Column and First Aid and the other on Tuberculosis, lines of work along which our Red Cross has plans for large and earnest development.
The Red Cross is needed. It is a blessing in many ways to the peoples of the world. It brings them closer together in the days of trouble and teaches them that nations, like men, are brothers. In America our Red Cross should aim to make itself one of the strongest and most helpful in this brotherhood of nations. ”

“ Cure of sickness and alleviation of suffering must never be neglected; not in cure, however, but in prevention lies the hope of modern sanitary science, of modern medicine, and of modern nursing.
Nearly every woman at some time in her life is called upon to assist in caring for the sick. Indeed, approximately 90% of all sick persons in the United States are cared for at home, even in cities where hospital facilities are good. Moreover, every woman is largely responsible for maintaining her own health, and few escape [xiv] responsibility at some time for maintaining the health of others. ”

“ There are mothers giving their very lives to keep their babies warm, themselves exposed to stinging blasts that must rapidly shorten life. There are even cultured old men and women, who in former days were in comparative comfort, but now are reduced to physical destitution that no words can describe. There are children bare-footed in the snow, whose scanty clothing and pinched faces tell the sad tale of only one meal a day and that of straw and daikon leaves in which is mixed a little cheap rice flour. ”

“ With pleasure I express to you, gentlemen, and to all the expedition of the American Red Cross, embarked on board the S. S. Bayern, the heartiest thanks of the population of Catania and of the refugees and wounded who have found here a shelter, for your generous offer of medicines, clothes, food, etc.
The relief brought by you will be effective to lessen the sufferings of so many wretched people, who have been deprived in a few moments of their relatives, of their beloved native town, and of every possession. ”

“ The Red Cross Society is becoming more and more practical, and is getting closer and closer to the everyday life of the people. In the past it has been distinguished by affording relief in times of great calamities, famines, epidemics, floods, fires and plagues, but, as the organization spreads throughout the country and becomes localized its merciful missions reach the thresholds of the schoolhouse and the home. ”

“ The person, then, who genuinely wishes to give her patient the best possible care should not make a martyr of herself. She should go out of doors daily; both fresh air and occasional absence from the patient are essential to her physical and mental well-being. Moreover, she will be showing her patient the greatest kindness in the long run if during her recreation time she thinks of him as little as possible. Indeed, she need not consider herself inhuman if she has a thoroughly good time. ”

“ Secretary Indiana Branch American Red Cross.
“Whether tuberculosis will be finally eradicated is even an open question. It is a foe that is very deeply intrenched in the human race. Very hard it will be to eradicate completely, but when we think of what has been done in one generation, how the mortality in many places has been reduced more than 50 per cent., indeed, in some places 100 per cent., it is a battle of hope, and so long as we are fighting with hope the victory is in sight.”—Dr. ”

“ All the nurses are graduates, Miss Sarah M. Dick, of the Cook County Training School, being superintendent, so that the care offered patients is of the best; and to hold and attract the highest type of nurse, everything connected with their rooms is as dainty as the rest of the hospital. Charming pictures in sitting room and dining room add to the homelike appearance. All physicians of the community are urged to bring their patients, and there is no distinction of creed—everything is offered in the broad spirit of the Red Cross. ”

“ Health and sickness, at all times momentous factors in the welfare of our nation, now as never before are matters of vital importance. To win its victories both in peace and in war, the nation needs all its citizens with all their powers, and it is a matter of more than passing interest that, as conservative estimates show, at least three persons out of every hundred living in the United States are constantly incapacitated by serious sickness. ”

“ May you find the medal and diploma we now send you as tokens of our gratitude, of which, however, they are but a modest outward sign, acceptable. More durably than in the metal is our gratefulness engraved in the hearts of the Italians, whose mindful blessings will stand as the sacred heritage of the generations to come. ”

“ Much has been written of the many beautiful and historic spots around Washington, but one which is a revelation to all who visit it, is the new Washington Sanitarium, located at Takoma Park, on an elevation of 300 feet. The Washington Sanitarium has only been in operation a little over a year. It already has a splendid patronage; it is undoubtedly destined to become well known not only for its beauty and delightful surroundings, but as a health resort. During the fall and winter the climate is almost ideal; the summer climate is good—no mosquitoes or other pests are to be found. ”

“ Drugs are given far less than they were a generation ago; yet medicines are still the most familiar of all remedies, and the most abused by those who persist in treating themselves. Misuse of medicine even by intelligent people is astonishingly common.
Problems of sickness and health would be enormously clarified if the uses and limitations of drugs were more generally understood. Many people still believe that every disease can be cured by a drug if only the doctor is clever or lucky enough to think of the right one to give. ”

“ When the Red Cross insignia was first adopted at the Geneva Convention, as a sign of a hospital in war, and for many years after that, no one dreamed of using it as a mark on goods sold in trade. Gradually, however, such use became more common, and a badge of humanity, which men in the midst of warfare respected, became more and more, in trade, a meaningless label, applied to all kinds of medicinal boxes, bottles and jars, and every other conceivable package and bundle. ”

“ The Columbia Park Boy’s club has set a national standard of efficiency in training boys in clean living, thinking and athletes and it is both the pride and pleasure of the California Branch of the American National Red Cross to wish this, the first squad of a detachment of the Grand Legion of the Red Cross to visit another nation, God speed and a hearty welcome in the Antipodes. ”

“ Americans, then, need have no misgivings about the administration of their donations. Italy cannot repair in a day the effects of so vast, so overwhelming a calamity as the Messina earthquake; the wound is too deep to heal quickly. Those only who have seen the misery which bows down the inhabitants of Sicily and Calabria can realize the tragic helplessness of all human succor. ”

“ If a person is not expelling pathogenic germs, it is clear that he cannot pass diseases on to others. But both pathogenic and harmless germs follow the same routes from person to person, so that safety as well as decency lies in preventing so far as possible all exchanges of bodily discharges.
There are five routes by which the bodily discharges most frequently travel from one person to another. Four of these routes of infection are called public, because in most cases efforts of individuals alone are not sufficient to control them. The public routes are water, milk, food, and insects. ”

“ He was the leader of the Red Cross movement in Rhode Island, and the Rhode Island Hospital and the State Sanatorium especially profited by his loyal and valued cooperation. Independent in politics, fearless in denunciation of everything unwholesome, refined in thought, cultivated in speech, a gentleman of pleasing address, he gave to this community willingly of his time and labor and leaves it in his debt for forty years of good citizenship. ”

“ Medicines to stop pain or to induce sleep are probably the most pernicious of all self-prescribed remedies, for they add to other dangers the possibility of forming drug habits. These habits are so insidious and so powerful that it is not safe to take habit-forming drugs even once except by a doctor's direction. In short periods of time strong people, apparently firm in will and character, [205] have acquired habits from supposedly moderate use of drugs like morphine, cocaine, and alcohol. No one, no matter how sure of his own self-control, can afford to run so grave a risk. ”

“ It was with a sense of the greatest sorrow and the sincerest sympathy that the people of the United States, through their Red Cross Society, found means to express in tangible form these heartfelt emotions. To many of our people Italy is the motherland, and to many others she has given so rich a treasury of art and literature that we must remain forever in her debt. ”

“ As for those who lived through the earthquake and escaped, the mental fear and physical agony they had undergone left their minds dazed and blank. When some realization of the truth dawned upon the world a wave of sympathy was awakened everywhere. It is especially for such times of disaster that the Red Cross has its being, and the call for help was immediately issued from headquarters at Washington. The President and Governors of States were notified that our National Society was ready to receive and transmit the contributions our people were glad to make for suffering Italy. ”

“ In order to maintain his health constant attention must be given to diet, to hygiene of the sick room, and indeed to all his surroundings. In many chronic illnesses, such as rheumatism and kidney disease, the diet is prescribed by the doctor; in every case care should be taken that the patient is not overfed or underfed, that the food is suited to his digestive powers, that foods causing flatulence are eliminated, particularly if the patient's trouble is heart disease, and not the least important requirement, that he derive as much pleasure from his food as possible. ”

“ To announce baldly in the sick-room that the patient is tired and the visitor must go, will only elicit aggrieved protests from both. In illness lasting only a day or two all visitors should be discouraged; during colds, because they are communicable; during general fatigue, headaches, digestive upsets, and painful menstruation, because rest and quiet are highly desirable. Visitors at such times too frequently give injudicious sympathy, and may actually delay the recovery of patients who enjoy playing the rôle of interesting invalid. ”

“ The problem of sickness is by no means peculiar to our own day and generation. It has been a medical, a religious, and a social problem in every age. From the time of Job its meaning has baffled philosophers; from his day to ours thoughtful men have devoted their lives to searching for causes and cures. Yet before the middle of the last century little progress was made, either in scientific treatment or in prevention of disease. ”

“ Clearly much must and should be sacrificed by members of a family to the needs of an invalid; but in general it may be said that a sacrifice is injudicious if it relieves the patient of activity or responsibility that he can support without injury, if it makes him more dependent in mind or body, if it results in restricting his attention to himself and his affairs, or if it increases his tendency to make demands on others. ”