World War, 1914-1918 -- Canada; World War, 1914-1918 -- Nova Scotia
Special mention must be made of the work of the President of the Windsor
Red Cross, Mrs. P. M. Fielding, who organized a special train which
arrived the evening of December 6th, bringing doctors and nurses from
Kentville, Windsor, Truro and neighboring towns. The Windsor Red Cross
alone spent $422.74 on Red Cross supplies and provisions for this trip,
Hantsport and other Branches also providing hampers of food, so that the
doctors and nurses had their meals en route and arrived in Halifax ready
to go to work without an instant’s delay, thereby saving many lives.
Mrs. Fielding remained in the city, established and equipped three
dormitories, which accommodated in all seventy-five nurses. What this
meant to the stricken city will never be computed, and the Red Cross
feels that all who helped can never be sufficiently thanked.
It was not until the end of March that the Red Cross was able to resume
its work for returned invalided soldiers. By that time the hospital on
Pier 2, wrecked by the explosion, had been repaired. The hospital ships
once more made their trips, and the Red Cross storeroom on the pier was
re-stocked. Large requisitions were filled each month; sometimes only a
few hours’ notice was given to get the supplies on board—sometimes only
a few minutes’ notice in the case of a hospital train. On one trip the
ship docked in the morning, landed her men and went out again with her
new supplies in the afternoon. At another time 1,400 shipwrecked men
from _S.S. City of Vienna_ were visited and supplied with filled kit
bags, containing toilet necessaries, pipes and tobacco. Directly after,
the Committee were called upon to minister to 300 influenza contact
cases. This necessitated the workers going into quarantine for two days,
very busy days, too, the telegrams alone requiring upwards of 300
telephone calls. The Y.M.C.A. and the Knights of Columbus Musical Club
were always at hand to cheer up men who were detained by the Medical
Board, arranging for their benefit concerts, entertainments, motor
drives and teas at private houses.
One thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight cases of goods were sent
Overseas, and the distribution of supplies on this side grew very
greatly during the year owing to the increasing number of returned men
and the opening of new convalescent homes.
The financial statement for the year ended October 31, 1918, shows
receipts of $36,848.65. Expenditures amounted to $41,804.01, including
the following items:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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