The British Interned in SwitzerlandPicot, Henry Philip
History
The British Interned in Switzerland
Picot, Henry Philip
World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals; World War, 1914-1918 -- Prisoners and prisons, Swiss
Before concluding this account of the sanitary organization of Mürren, I
must add a word regarding an important branch of that work inaugurated
at the "Manor Farm." This châlet, the property of an English lady, Miss
Simpkin, served in pre-war days as a pension for British and American
visitors. It was beautifully situated, two kilometres from Interlaken,
on the shore of the Lake of Thoune, and Miss Simpkin conceived the happy
thought of offering it to the medical authorities as a convalescent home
for soldiers suffering from neurasthenia, shell shock, heart, etc. The
offer was gladly accepted. Twenty officers and men were in constant
residence there, and it would be difficult to exaggerate the care and
kindness lavished on them by this devoted lady.
Apart from the treatment afforded by the ordinary camp organizations,
with their associated hospitals as already described, the principle was
adopted of utilizing, so far as practicable, the services of specialists
in such centres as Berne, Fribourg, Lausanne, Montreux, Geneva, etc. We
thus find many of the best-known professors and doctors of Switzerland,
some of whom have a world-wide reputation, actively engaged in their own
hospitals in the service of the Interned.
At Berne: Professors Kocher, Capt. Dr. Matti, Dr. Arndt, Dr. Kocher.
At Lausanne: Professor Roux, Dr. Dufour.
At Montreux: Dr. Chessex.
At Geneva: Dr. Julliard, Dr. Machard.
At Fribourg: Dr. Clement.
A special Sanitary Establishment was also created by the "Médecin
d'Armée" at Lucerne, in June, 1916, with 190 beds and a staff of eleven
doctors, known as the "Armée-Sanitäts-Anstalt," destined for the common
use of the Interned of all nations for operative work in connection with
bone-grafting, tendon-transplantation, brain and nerve surgery, and
complicated plastic movements. The beds were distributed as follows: 6
to officers, and 78 to French, 22 to British, and 84 to German N.C.Os.
and men, the different nationalities being accommodated in different
wards. This hospital was well equipped from a scientific point of view,
and was supplemented by annexes to which the convalescents were
transferred. The annexe set aside for the British was the congeries of
châlets at Seebourg, four kilometres from Lucerne, owned by the London
Polytechnic Society. This was kindly placed at my disposal by the
Society, and was further utilized for the accommodation of men attending
the classes for technical instruction established under the auspices of
the B.R.C.S., London. The "A.S.A.," however, proving unequal to the
ever-increasing strain, had to be supplemented on September 8, 1916, by
the addition at the "Clinique Générale," Geneva, under the direction of
Dr. Julliard, of a _service_ for the treatment of lesions of the jaw and
face. Another _service_ was also opened by Dr. Machard, at Geneva, and a
third by Dr. Matti, at the Salem Hospital, at Berne, also for lesions of
the face and jaw.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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