The treatment provided in our military hospitals for World War soldiers
may be summarized in instructions approved by the Secretary of War,
which were about as follows: That no member of the military service
disabled in line of duty even though not expected to return to duty,
would be discharged from the service until he had attained complete
recovery or as complete recovery as could be expected he would attain
when the nature of his disability was considered. It was laid down,
further, that physical reconstruction consisted in the completest form
of medical and surgical treatment carried to the point where maximum
functional restoration, mental and physical, had been secured. To secure
this result the use of work, mental and manual, was required during the
convalescent period. This therapeutic measure, in addition to aiding
greatly in shortening the convalescent period, retains or arouses mental
activities, prevents the state of mind acquired by chronic hospital
patients, and enables the patient to be returned to service or to civil
life with the fullest realization that he can work in his handicapped
state and with habits of industry much encouraged, if not newly formed.
Early in 1918, the Secretary of War also authorized the Medical
Department to proceed with the scheme for reconstruction of officers and
enlisted men of the Army alone without consideration of the other
bureaus of the government involved. This reconstruction it was clearly
understood would end at the point where the medical reconstruction
ceased and the future reconstruction of such cases was to be completed
by other agencies of the Government after the individuals had been
discharged from the Army.
Patients then were cared for in military hospitals up to the point of
maximum functional restoration, both mental and physical. In the case of
patients who were ultimately to be discharged from military service,
arrangements were made whereby the Federal Board for Vocational Training
might have access to these men as soon as it was known that they were to
be discharged and the educational officers of the Medical Department
were directed to cooperate with the representatives of the Federal Board
to the fullest possible extent, in order that the patients concerned
might have all the advantages assured them by the Federal Government.
It was recognized that in order to make this program successful for the
attainment of the maximum physical and mental condition through complete
medical and surgical treatment, it would require the establishment of a
policy of extended publicity. This embraced the necessity to educate the
public to the need of this physical reconstruction for the disabled men
before their return to civil life; to educate the family of the soldier
with regard to the need of continued treatment that they might be
satisfied to have them remain in hospital, and finally, to educate the
soldier himself by placing in his hands at the earliest possible moment
after his disability had been incurred the necessary literature which
would inform him of his status as a soldier and of the privileges, which
were to be his as a disabled man, from the Medical Department of the
Army, the Federal Board for Vocational Education, the Bureau of War Risk
Insurance, and also to place in his hands such literature as would
inform him of facts concerning various trades from which he might choose
a vocation, together with all the information in regard to the need for
men in the various industries of the country.
As above outlined this policy of treatment was carried out. At the
approved time for the discharge of the patients from the military
service, they at once became beneficiaries of the Bureau of War Risk
Insurance and subject to further physical reconstruction or education,
if such were necessary, under the direction of the Federal Board, Public
Health Service or the Bureau of War Risk Insurance.
Such facilities as were in our hospitals and were not required for the
care of the sick of the active list of our army were placed at the
disposal of the discharged veterans of the World War. This was done
mainly in two ways: first, by turning over to the Public Health Service
which was charged with the medical work of the Federal Board, many
complete hospitals and second, by caring for many of the veterans in our
own hospitals after their proper discharge from the service.
_HOSPITALS RELEASED FOR CARE OF VETERANS_
By virtue of Act of Congress in March, 1919, every military hospital,
including its supplies, no longer required for the proper care of the
sick in the military service was to be turned over to the Public Health
Service if the latter service so desired. A detailed classified list of
hospitals approximating 2,460 beds turned over under this law follows:
General Hospitals at permanent military stations which were transferred
to Public Health Service.
Name Bed Date
capacity transferred
Fort Bayard, New Mexico 1000 June 15, 1920
Fort McHenry, Maryland 200 June 15, 1920
Whipple Barracks, Arizona 600 Feb. 15, 1920
————
Total 3600
Hospitals on Leased Properties transferred to Public Health Service.
Name Bed Date
capacity transferred
[1]O’Reilly Gen. Hosp., Oteen, N.C. 1300 Oct. 15, 1920
[1]Hoff Gen. Hosp., Staten Island, N.Y. 1468 Oct. 15, 1920
Gen. Hosp. #10, Boston, Mass. 700 July 1, 1919
Gen. Hosp. #12, Biltmore, N.C. 450 Sept, 1, 1919
Gen. Hosp. #13, Dansville, N.Y. 288 April 2, 1919
Gen. Hosp. #15, Corpus Christi, Texas 262 May 31, 1919
Gen. Hosp. #16, New Haven, Conn. 500 Sept. 1, 1919
[2]Gen. Hosp. #17, Markleton, Pa. 187 Mar. 27, 1919
Gen. Hosp. #24, Parkview, Pa. 700 July 30, 1919
Gen. Hosp. #32, Chicago, Ill. 550 May 15, 1919
Gen. Hosp. #34, East Norfolk, Mass. 340 June 24, 1919
Gen. Hosp. #40, St. Louis, Mo. 530 June 12, 1919
Emb. Hosp. #4, (polyclinic) N.Y. 374 Aug. 15, 1919
Norwegian Lutheran and Deaconess Home, Brooklyn, 250 May 15, 1919
N.Y.
Post Hosp., Q.M. Terminal, Sewell’s Point, Va. 250 May 27, 1919
Nitrate Plant, Perryville, Md. (approx) 150 Oct. 1, 1919
————
Total 8299
Camps and Cantonments taken over by Public Health Service.
Name Bed Date
capacity transferred
Camp Beauregard, Louisiana 2144 Mar. 18, 1919
Camp Cody, New Mexico 1289 Apr. 14, 1919
Camp Hancock, Georgia 1604 Mar. 27, 1919
Camp Joseph E. Johnston, Florida 816 July 17, 1919
Camp Logan, Texas 1156 Mar. 12, 1919
Camp Sevier, S. Carolina 1396 Apr. 5, 1919
Camp Fremont, California 1156 Mar. 20, 1919
————
Total 9561
= Total
21,460
Footnote 1:
Indicates buildings constructed by the Army on leased ground.
Footnote 2:
General Hospital No. 17 was closed as an Army hospital on March 27,
1919, the Public Health Service having stated that it did not desire
this hospital. Later on, however, this hospital was taken over by the
Public Health Service.
Hospitals abandoned by the Medical Department, U. S. Army, and available
to the Public Health Service, but not occupied by that Service because
they were not located where additional hospitalization was needed.