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(iii.) Abstracts, prepared by the medical officer, from Zur Organisation des Rettungswesen,
by Dr. George Meyer, of Berlin.*
Ambulance Systems in Continental Towns.
Vienna.
The Vienna Volunteer Life-saving Society controls a central station, provided with
accommodation for 30 carriages and stables for 19 horses. Many vehicles are always kept ready for
use, and immediately a call comes, a medical man with sanitary staff and all necessary
remedies starts at once for the place of accident. The kind of vehicle used by the Society takes the
Form of a carriage, the litter being placed on the lower part of the carriage and rolled inside.
There are also numerous other means of conveying the sick, litters, hand stretchers, etc., always ready.
The staff is in uniform, medical men wearing caps and badges. Fourteen medical men are attached
to the Society, of whom a number are always at the station; there are in addition 60 medical students
as temporary assistants, and 322 medical men as honorary members at the disposal of the Society.
All work done by the Society is free, whether inside or outside the station. It is specially
ordered that only first-aid, and help only in urgent cases, is to be given. The Society help in cases
of accident in the streets, in factories, public buildings, places of amusement, at processions, on
railways, etc. At night the society gives first-aid in houses to persons attacked with illness or
accidents. For the conveyance of persons suffering from infectious diseases the society possesses some
vehicles lined with tin, which are disinfected immediately after the conveyance of each patient.
Lately the Society has converted a railway carriage into an ambulance carriage, fitted out with all
necessary materials and means of carrying persons.
The medical men hold fixed appointments under the Society, the chief being paid as well as
the others. Money is obtained by voluntary contributions, by collections, receipts at festivals, etc.
In 1900 the number of occasions on which aid was given was in round numbers 9,000, while 6,400
were removed by the Society's vehicles—total 15,400 cases.
The removal of cases of infectious disease is carried out by the city authorities, who have
their own staff and excellent arrangements with vehicles, horses, etc.
Buda-Pesth.
The Volunteer Life-saving Society of Buda-Pesth was founded in 1887 and possesses a building
of its own in which a number of senior medical students are always on duty, 12 living in a special
part of the building. The ambulances resemble those of Vienna.
The Society is also able to convert ordinary landaus into ambulance carriages. All vehicles
are heated in winter and after each time of removal are disinfected, though cases of infectious disease
are never supposed to be removed in them. At the station four men are on duty ; one of five
specially appointed medical men supervising the whole in turn. A principal medical officer is also
appointed.
The removal-of cases of infectious disease is arranged for by the city authorities by means of
their own station and staff.
Graz.
The life-saving branch of the volunteer fire brigade at Graz has since 1889 organised the
arrangements for saving life in that town. The members of the life-saving branch, who are at the
same time unpaid members of the fire brigade, consist of 30 medical men or medical students in their
last terms, and 40 sanitary officers. In the armoury of the fire brigade is a room for dressing wounds
and containing bandages, and a dwelling for the medical man on duty. The medical men take it in
turns to be always on duty. There are two baggage waggons and five ambulances (life-saving
carriages) in which a medical man and three sanitary officers go to the place of accident. First-aid
only is rendered in sudden illness or accidents. Other sick persons, especially those suffering from
infectious diseases, are removed by the hospital authorities by means of wheeled litters. Clinical
treatment does not take place. All help is rendered free.
As in Graz so in many places in Austria-Hungary the fire brigades have organised the arrangements
for saving life. The members of the numerous Austrian volunteer fire brigades are trained in
first-aid, and even in the smallest places a service is thus made possible.
* Zur Organisation des Rettungswcsen von Dr. George Meyer in Berlin. Abdruck aus dem Klinischcn Jahibuch
Jena. Vcrlag von Gustav Fischer, 1901.