![nurses in a mash unit nurses in a mash unit](https://live.staticflickr.com/2487/5766867317_314de7646c_c.jpg)
He was chief surgeon at Jennie Edmondson hospital at the time.ĭr. He sought and received permission from the Surgeon General to move forward with the plan. Macrae resigned that post when war was declared on Germany in order to followup on an idea of mobile surgical unit with the Army. Though he initially remained in the Iowa National Guard Medical Corps, Dr. A strong disbeliever in gambling, he orchestrated raids on saloons engaged in illegal gaming and governed in a no-nonsense style. Macrae served as mayor from 1904 to 1907. Following the Spanish American War he returned to his practice in Council Bluffs.ĭr. He was appointed assistant surgeon, given the rank of First Lieutenant in 1898, and was sent to the Philippines for active service. Dynamic and patriotic, he joined the 51st Iowa Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish American War. was the son of a pioneer Council Bluffs physician. The unit was officially taken out of service at Camp Dodge in Des Moines and returned to Council Bluffs the next day.ĭr. The concept of women working at the front lines was controversial, but the new hospital unit brought its nurses into range of German artillery. In addition to significantly advancing combat health care Unit K expanded the role of women. Though reports described bombs exploding near their tents Unit K suffered just two casualties among its staff, both from pneumonia. Most of the equipment was manufactured or purchased in southwest Iowa. Generators provided electricty x-ray and sterilization equipment was on hand. The tents were connected together with "tent halls" of canvas.
#Nurses in a mash unit plus
Initially the unit had sixteen tents for wards, plus additional tents to serve as kitchen, laundry, morgue, and for supplies.
![nurses in a mash unit nurses in a mash unit](https://64.media.tumblr.com/6b2bb990dd921ea646ead2d57804c30a/tumblr_ok0f7cmNJw1qdzpdyo1_1280.jpg)
The men of Unit K left Council Bluffs Novemthe women followed one month later, December 12. The recruits spent the summer and fall training in Council Bluffs.
![nurses in a mash unit nurses in a mash unit](https://govbooktalk.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/mash-final-episode-philadelphia-tv-week.jpg)
The recruits were mustered into service Jin Council Bluffs. created Unit K by enlisting twelve southwest Iowa doctors, 21 nurses (15 graduates of Jennie Edmundson School of Nursing, one from Mercy School of Nursing), and fifty men to serve as orderlies. The first mobile medical hospital to be active was Unit K, also referred to as Mobile Hospital #1 or simply "The Council Bluffs Unit."Ĭouncil Bluffs physician and former mayor Dr. Time spent in moving the wounded reduced chances of survival, as did the trauma inflicted by the transportation itself.įrance had the idea of a mobile hospital but had not put it into action. The well manured farm fields of France were laden with bacteria, making infections a real problem. Increased industrial and technological sophistication, such as machine guns and explosive bullets, led to an unprecidented number of casualties in World War I. Traditionally, soldiers wounded in battle needed to be carried on stretchers to carts, wagons and later motorized ambulances to hospitals set up behind the lines. Alliances formed over past decades were involved and within a few weeks the major powers were at war. The immediate trigger was the assasination of Archduke Ferdinand June 28, 1914. World War I was a global conflict centered in Europe that drew in all the world's great economic powers.