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France. Over three hundred citations, awards and recommendations for honors were made in favor of these officers and men.

The duties of the Medical Department increased after the signing of the armistice owing to the large troop movement. From January 1st to July 30th, 1919, 112,131 sick and wounded were returned from abroad by the Cruiser and Transport Force; in July and August the number was 8,538, of which 678 were men of the Navy. The demobilization, therefore, in the Medical Corps of the Navy was necessarily slower than in any other branch of the service.

Mention must be made of the splendid service rendered their country by the

nurses

of the hundreds of hospitals throughout our land. Many of them sacrificed better paying positions, better surroundings and fine homes to serve in the Navy Medical Corps. They volunteered for special duty in the most dangerous temporary hospitals, they worked day and night over our sick and wounded in the Navy Base Hospitals in France, Ireland,

bute paid any single unit by the Secretary of the Navy was to the nurses who so ably served their country in the Great War.

It is not in keeping with Naval traditions for officers and enlisted men to boast of their exploits or services, but it is a matter of record that the percentage of deaths in the Naval Hospitals is far below that in civil institutions. This fact is attributed to the following: Men must pass a rigid examination before entering the service; men are admitted to the hospitals of the Navy before they become seriously ill; men are not subjected to the dangers of accidents so common to the civilian; special nurses are provided for men when the case warrants; the very latest developments of science are immediately practiced; late devices and medicines are supplied by the government, no matter what the cost.

The hospitals on board ship-known to the Navyman as the sick bays-are equipped with the very latest appliances and medicines, and have at their head one or more competent surgeons and the desired number of pharmacist's mates and

An Experience with Smallpox in a Swedish Isolation Hospital

BY THE PATIENT

While working in Stockholm I had the misfortune to contract smallpox in January, 1919, which was how I gained my personal knowledge of a Swedish Isolation Hospital. I caught smallpox from a fellow-lodger. The man, a Swede, died somewhat suddenly, necessitating a post-mortem, the verdict of which was blood-poisoning; but a fortnight later the diagnosis was found to be only half right, for the Professor, who performed the post-mortem, my landlady, a friend of hers and I were all suffering from smallpox; and on further inquiries the woman who laid the dead man out was also found to be a victim, and she, a comparatively young woman, died of smallpox in its worst form a few days after her admittance to hospital.

Where the dead man contracted smallpox no one knows, as there were no cases in Stockholm at the time, but it is presumed. it came over from Russia.

As soon as it was discovered what we were all suffering from, (we had imagined we had Spanish Influenza), an ambulance took us to the Isolation Hospital. The smallpox ward was a separate building, and quite isolated from all the other buildings, standing on higher ground. One clean wide passage ran the whole length of the building and on one side were 7 rooms to hold one or two patients and on the other side, the kitchen, sisters' and nurses' rooms, and linen room. At either end was a big bathroom, one for patients and one for staff. The rooms were clean and quite cheerful looking, although rather barely furnished. In my room which I shared at first with my landlady and afterwards with my landlady's friend, were two little iron bedsteads covered with red blankets with black stripes, a table, a few wooden chairs, two

little bed tables and a tiny wash-stand, with a basin more fit for a doll than a living person. Sweden goes in for these miniature basins, which to our English minds are more like play things. The walls were distempered and beautifully clean; the ceiling was high, with electric light, and steam heat. The window was large and curtains with broad red and white stripes matched the blankets and the walls. Our beds were along the wall with the heads towards the window, so that we should not face the light.

As soon as we arrived at the Hospital we got into bed and the Sister took down our particulars on a chart. Then the ward Doctor came round and made inquiries as to our symptoms, and when we were taken ill, etc. After examining our throats, and with a cheering smile the Doctor went away. Shortly after he returned accompanied by the Professor of the Hospital, a very clever man, who looked grave and examined both us and our charts. The Professor, who is the Head of the Isolation Hospital, has a busy task, for there are over 500 beds and he goes round every day and visits each patient, sometimes twice a day. It was due to him that it was discovered from what we were suffering and thanks to him that only seven people contracted the disease.

The doctors wore white cotton coats, which covered them from neck to toe, and white caps, something like bakers' caps. I forgot to say that when the doctor enters the room the first time, he comes forward, shakes hands and introduces himself by saying his own name; and if one is a Swede one replies by saying one's name. Then the introduction being over, the examination and questions begin.

At 2 o'clock a well cooked dinner was brought round, and from that time onwards it always seemed time to eat something. The treatment in Sweden for smallpox being plenty of food and rest and the only remedy time.

The food was certainly plentiful, well cooked and appetisingly served, and one could not have been better looked after had one been at home. If the food prepared was something a patient did not like, the probationers brought in something else, and they seemed only too willing to do all they could for the patients, at least that was my experience.

The hours of the meals were as follows, 9 a. m. breakfast, consisting of what the Swedes call "smörgas." Bread and butter with a slice of ham, salt meat, or a thin wafer of cheese, etc., or bread and jam with a slice of sausage, ham, etc., each slice having something different and the slices being the size of a slice off a roll.

The butter ration in Sweden was very small, and margarine until March, 1919, was unobtainable, so butter only appeared once a week and jam the rest of the time. White bread also was not to be had except on Sundays, white flour being so scarce. The bread given was mostly made of rye. We had what they call velling to drink; it is like barley water, but made with oatmeal, and supposed to be strengthening. Towards the end of our stay in Hospital, a hot dish as well as the "smörgas" was brought in for breakfast.

At 11:30 cups of steaming cocoa and rusks were brought round. At 3 o'clock we had our dinner, consisting of two courses on week days and three on Sundays. At 4:30 we had coffee and rusks, and were fortunate in getting real coffee and not a substitute. Coffee is the great Swedish drink, which replaces tea in England, and in consequence is well made by the Swedes. At 6 o'clock we had supper, which consisted

Sweden, so none was supplied. I had my own which a friend sent me.

From 6 p. m. to 9 a. m. we had nothing, which was a relief to me, as I never felt hungry; the others had things sent in from outside, and seemed to be continually eating. Smallpox seems to stimulate the appetite, except in my case, and even when at death's door, the patients' appetites were enormous and they seemed to have a craving for food, which was never denied them, except when it was found to be retarding. recovery. One had only to suggest that one would like something and one of the pros would immediately prepare it.

In the smallpox hut we were not restricted to one room, but once up could roam about the place and visit the other patients as much as we pleased. There were no rules as to silence, lights out and nonvisiting of other rooms, and we were allowed to use the telephone, which put us in touch with the outer world, free of charge. In the main buildings lights were put out punctually at 8 o'clock, but when getting better we were allowed to put them out when we liked and I think they were extra kind to me being English in a foreign land. The light being left on made a great difference to me, as I slept very little, and the long dark nights seemed interminable, especially when the irritation was almost more than one could stand.

In Sweden they do not generally use hot water for washing and seemed surprised when I asked for it at first, but after a little they always brought me some. They allow one to wash oneself in Hospital and only when one wishes it do they do it. But with regard to their baths it is different. A hot bath is prepared and hot towels and a sister or pro comes along with a big scrubbing brush, the kind we use in England for scrubbing floors, and scrubs one's back. I was allowed the bathroom to myself, as I told them in England we were used to bathing ourselves and did not need

me in peace; but the others were all scrubbed and seemed to enjoy it.

It is a Swedish custom as a general rule, not to have one's own bathroom in one's flat, but to go to the general baths, where women come in and scrub one. If one does not happen to know the custom beforehand it is somewhat of a shock, when safely settled in one's bath to suddenly have the door opened or curtains pushed aside and find a woman armed with a large scrubbing brush entering the room, and insisting on scrubbing one's back whether one will or not. I was fortunately warned by an English girl on arrival in Sweden, so never fell into the trap.

Needless to say life in Hospital was very monotonous as no one from the outside world or rest of the Hospital was allowed to come anywhere near our building, bar the Doctors and the man who brought the food, and the food-bringer had had to be vaccinated first, and was only allowed to put the food through a hole in the wall and not allowed to talk to those inside. No one, not even the sister, was allowed outside the building. One morning there was great excitement when the hair-combings of one of the patients, who was doing her hair and whose hair was coming out in handfuls, (she lost every hair on her head eventually), suddenly blew out of the window; like a whirlwind the pro, in the room at the time, dashed for the door of the hut and chased the recalcitrant hair-combings for some distance, finally catching them and returned somewhat breathless but victorious to the hut. The temperature was many degrees below zero and the pro in spite of her hurry felt decidedly cold, but it was worth it for she had had a breath of fresh air, and been outside for the first time since coming to look after the smallpox patients. This will show you how particular the authorities were, once the disease was diagnosed. Hair is a great germ carrier, smallpox always attacking the head.

It may interest Doctors and nurses in

other countries to know that not a single dose of medicine of any kind was given to a patient unless he or she desired it. I never had a drop of medicine from beginning to end and only once did I have a lotion of any kind rubbed on the spots to allay the irritation, and before that was applied I was asked if I would like it. I said yes, but never again; another patient and I finding that the irritation was only quadrupled by it, and sleep an absolute impossibility. I was asked if I would like a sleeping draught, but preferred to lie awake than have a morphine injection.

The Swedish treatment is certainly efficacious for not a mark have I to show, and out of the five patients who lived, only one will be permanently marked I think, and that the man. My landlady, who had it the worst of the lot and was not expected to live owing to her age, will show no signs of it in time, and with her the rash was so bad, that all the spots ran one into the other and looked like one huge blister.

We were not kept in a dark room, being allowed to regulate the light as we liked, and I being a lover of light, let the sun come streaming in.

When the rooms were aired, the windows being thrown wide open for short intervals at various times, our heads were wrapped up in blankets, to prevent the intense cold from striking us; however after a time I found I gained more benefit without the blanket and after a little persuasion was allowed to discard it.

The rooms were thoroughly cleaned and disinfected every day before breakfast, and when the Doctors or Professor were expected, the pro would come round and make our beds look spick and span and ask us to try and not move about too much till after the visit was over.

The recreation of the day was the Doctors' visits, for they were always cheerful, and ready with a joke. It was only at the first that they looked really grave.

Night and morning our temperatures

were taken, the time varying somewhat. In the morning they were generally taken when the pro first came into the room about 7:30, but in the evening they were taken at 4, 5, 6 or 7 o'clock; never later than 7, sometimes before and sometimes after the 6 o'clock supper.

Before leaving the Hospital everything we had was thoroughly disinfected and for one day we were put into Hospital garb. Now the Swedes as a nation are big, and I am 5 ft. 3 and thin, so the garments were distinctly amusing and it was only by much rolling and pinning that I was able to keep the clothes on at all, and then looked as broad as I am tall. Generally the hospital dress is compulsory the whole time, but in our case we were allowed to wear our own clothes. The Hospital dress is blue and white striped gingham skirts, with a body

of the same material made in the shape of a very short pajama jacket, giving one the appearance of having grown out of it. The skirt in my case was so wide about the waist, that I could get it almost twice round me. The under garments were all of unbleached calico of most curious shapes, with yards of material in them, no woollen things of any description being given one, except the stockings, which were of very thick wool, and rose color, and no shoes.

I received all the care, kindness and attention in the Hospital for nothing, being forced to go there whether I wished it or not, when it was discovered that I had smallpox, but had I paid a fabulous sum, I could not have been better treated. Whatever their political feelings, their treatment of me in Hospital was kindness itself.

The Modern Health Crusade

The Modern Health Crusade is a system of health chores for the purpose of promoting proper health habits among children in the elementary schools securing their cooperation in controlling preventable diseases and enlisting children in community service.

Miss Gertrude Rines, State Supervising Nurse of South Dakota, writing in Modern Medicine, quotes an eminent physician in a large hospital for children who considers that the Modern Health Crusade work is the greatest institution for the health of children he has ever witnessed. It not only educates them in proper health living, but forms permanent health habits. "If you want something to last one hundred years, plant a tree. If you something to last one thousand years, plant a habit in a child, as this habit will be handed down from generation to generation."

want

the state, 20 per cent of the pupils slept in homes where windows were never opened at night. Many of these children were among the poorest in school work. After following the Crusade work for two weeks, the last child reported to his teacher that his parents permitted him to sleep with his window open. Another child, one of a family of seven, who has been sleeping in a closed attic, by persistent efforts succeeded in getting his father to cut a hole in the room and put in a window.

Another family who had not been getting milk for their children, are reported as using milk daily since finding the children are all undernourished.

Due to physical examinations and health records taken and kept by the superintendent of schools and public health nurse, children become very enthusiastic over all phases of health work, particularly the

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