Molly Strike- Medical treatments made many advancements during WW1
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Medical Advancments
Horse Ambulance
This is a picture of injured soldiers getting picked up by a horse ambulance during WWI. In the beginning of WWI, the vast majority of ambulances were horse drawn. But as the war progressed, there were more and more motorized ambulances that were able to pick up soldiers faster and get them to help sooner, increasing the chances of survival for many soldiers.
Red Cross Poster
This is a picture of a Red Cross poster meant to recruit people to join the Red Cross during WWI. Many people, mainly women, joined the Red Cross to do their part for the war. By the end of WWI, a third of America was involved directly or indirectly in the Red Cross. The Red Cross was a big part of how medical treatments began to improve during WWI.
WWI Operation
This is a picture of an operation from the time of WWI. As WWI progressed, operations became safer and more sucessful. One example of this is the invention of the Thomas splint which saved the lives of many soldiers with broken thigh bones. At the beginning of WWI only 20% of soldiers with broken thigh bones would survive, but by the end of WWI with the help of the Thomas splint, 80% would survive. This was one of the many medical advancements during WWI.
Medical Care for Soldiers
This is a picture of soldiers receiving medical care from Red Cross nurses. Red Cross bases were set up very close to the front lines and nurses did everything that they could to help the injured soldiers. Red Cross nurses were a big part of medical care for soldiers and medical advancements during WWI.
Vaccinations
All soldiers had to get the avalible vaccinations to limit the spread of disease. Even though there were no antibiotics during WWI, there were half of the number of deaths from disease as there had been during the Civil War. This shows that there were many advancements in protecting soldiers from disease.
WWI X-ray
This is an x-ray from WWI. During WWI x-ray machines began to be used for injured soldiers, not only used in city hospitals as they had been before. The increasingly common use of x-ray machines during WWI saved the lives of many soldiers.
Blood Transfusions
This is a picture of a WWI blood transfusion kit. Blood transfusions that were matched to blood type started during WWI and saved countless soldier’s lives, as was finding out how to store blood (mixing it sodium citrate and freezing it for up to a month). This was one major medical advancment from WWI.
Amputations
This is a picture of WWI soldiers who had had limbs amputated. Many soldiers during WWI had limbs amputated so that they could survive. Prosthetics were improving a lot during WWI, however doctors and nurses couldn’t do much for soldiers' pain from amputation. The development of amputations was another medical advancement during WWI.
Antiseptic
This is a picture of a WWI newspaper article about a doctor and chemist who formulated a disinfectant using chlorine that could be used to disinfect serious injuries that soldiers got on the battlefield. This was a major advancment in medicine; before the disinfectant many soldiers with such serious injuries would have their limb amputated to prevent them from dying of infection, but the disinfectant reduced the number of amputations that soliders had to get.
