Women in World War I were volunteers that worked as nurses. Many women stayed back and kept their normal jobs as the war went on. The Red Cross helped out with transportation and supplies. They were an organization that provided medical service. They provided ambulances for the British and French. Lots of camps were set up in the trenches with care from the Red Cross. 

 

TREATING A WOUND

      Dakin-Carrel solution was a medicine that was used to sterilize wounds or irrigate wounds before the closure of the wound. It contained boric acid and sodium hypochlorite. 

 

RELIEVING PAIN

      Cocaine hydrochloride was used as a form of anesthetic. Chloroform was also used as an anesthetic and a sedative.

 

INFECTION

      Staying clean and hygiene were the main goals in the trenches. Some infections were trench foot, influenza, and malaria.

 

STAGES OF INJURIES

      A soldier had to be treated within 60 minutes for the best chance of survival.

 

SLIGHTLY INJURED

     If a soldier did not need much care, they would get quick treatment in the same location and then kept on fighting

 

MAJOR INJURY

     Soldiers who needed to be transported for an injury or needed to go to the hospital would be at a base and stay there for a while to get better

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BEYOND HELP

     Soldiers who had very little chance of living were made comfortable but little treatments of others had priority

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THE RED CROSS

     The Red Cross was an organization that provided medical service. They had camps set up around the trenches. The Red Cross saved more than 20 million people patients. They had to perform plastic surgery on soldiers, mostly due to trench warfare. ¨Within weeks of the outbreak of war, the American Red Cross dispatched a ship to Europe loaded with medical personnel and supplies. Named the SS Red Cross, it was better known as “The Mercy Ship.” It carried 170 surgeons and nurses who were being sent to Europe to provide medical relief to combat casualties on both sides of the war. This was consistent with the articles of the Geneva Conventions and the principles of the Red Cross Movement that called for strict observance of neutrality and impartiality. Additional personnel and supplies followed but the Red Cross ended this effort after little more than a year, primarily because of lack of sufficient funding."

 

      The idea of plastic surgery originated in India. The greatest percentage of casualties were from disease and guns and bullets.

 

      X-rays were created in 1895 and were used in WWI.