Military medicine

[Music] [Music] Two statistics tell much of this story. During the 90-year interval between the Civil War and the Korean War, deaths from wounds were reduced by approximately 80% and deaths from disease by approximately 99%. [Music] The meaning those figures have to the American fighting man is of course the major part of the story of military medicine. But there's another aspect to it too. The benefits that acrew to humanity at large through the accomplishments of military medicine. These benefits are byproducts, yes, but they're fortunate ones, and it's these we will concentrate on in this report. The conquering of disease is the oldest illustration of the way in which military medicine has worked to the advantage of civilian populations throughout the world, and history abounds with examples. Perhaps the best known is the conquering of yellow fever at the turn of this century. This dread disease was hampering a project vital to our national interests, the construction of the Panama Canal. A United States Army doctor, William C. Gorgus, eliminated the disease in the canal zone through the application of sanitary measures after another Army doctor, Major Walter Reed, discovered that the disease was transmitted by mosquito. Barely 60 years ago, yellow fever was a major enemy of mankind. Today, its effect is negligible. A modern-day example of the way the army works to eliminate disease is illustrated by its efforts to conquer shistosomiasis. Shistosomiasis, a disease endemic in certain parts of Asia, is caused by organisms which live in water. It can bring severe discomfort to great numbers of the population. The army encountered it first during World War II when our own soldiers were stricken. The army began its attack on the disease then protecting against it through health measures as well as providing medical treatment. It has continued its fight ever since. Obviously, the results of this work are and will continue to be of direct and great benefit to the people who live in the part of the world where the disease is most prevalent. There are many other examples of disease eradication. Malaria, for instance, has virtually been eliminated as a major medical problem today as the result of recent army experiments proving the effectiveness of Primacquinn, the first successful malaria drug. Other examples are the Navy's development of vaccines for upper respiratory infection, penicellin prophylaxis for rheumatic fever, and a new treatment of cholera. We wouldn't have time in this report to discuss all the areas in which the services are endeavoring to eliminate disease. But even if we had, we still wouldn't have told the full story of how military medicine works to the advantage of the world at large. for much more than the elimination of specific diseases is involved. There is for instance the method of eliminating disease. Now those of you who have recently come through a reception center will know what this is. It's a jet injection gun for inoculation. And there may even be some of you who don't remember what it replaced. The needle which looms large in the memory of many a servicemen and ex-servicemen. As the result of this multiple dose high-pressure apparatus developed by the army, all servicemen will soon be inoculated against disease painlessly, more safely, and a good deal faster than was ever true before. The primary beneficiaries of this instrument are, of course, the servicemen themselves. But there is little doubt that this development will eventually have an important effect on health conditions throughout the world. When army medics assisted in the evacuation and care of the injured in Chile following the devastating earthquakes in 1960, inoculation against disease was accomplished much more efficiently thanks to the use of this instrument. Artificial respiration is an emergency first aid which people everywhere are called upon to use. Different forms have always been employed. Scientific studies conducted under army opaces however have proved the superiority of a long known but not always widely used process mouthto-mouth resuscitation. This method which research has revealed to be the best available is being taught now to all personnel of the armed services and it has been officially adopted by the American Red Cross, United States Civil Defense Agencies and municipal rescue services throughout our country. Hundreds of severely burned patients who might once have faced certain death are today being saved as the result of a treatment procedure developed by the army. The procedure includes swift treatment for shock, the replacement of burned tissue with skin grafts from the patients own body, and a method of protecting the skin grafts from infection. After years of study and research, this technique of treatment and quick action has been codified by the army into a standard operating procedure which is now generally accepted by hospitals and medical groups throughout the United States. It's not always easy, of course, to draw a hard and clear line between the research done by the different services. Often enough, the scientists and researchers of all the services are at work on the same problem, attacking it from different angles. Right now, our report on the work the Army is doing on skin grafts for burns leads into a report on a Navy project which also involves grafts. At the United States Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland is one of the most unique and notable activities to be found anywhere in the world. It's the Naval Tissue Bank. Here human bone, skin, cartilage, arteries and other tissues are stored to be used as needed by patients all over the country or for that matter in other parts of the world. The tissue bank motto is exmorte beta life out of death. The stored tissue comes from recently deceased patients with whom arrangements have been made for donations of parts of their bodies so that others may live. The ability to transplant tissue from one body to another is itself a spectacular accomplishment. But it is only one of many connected with this amazing institution. The technique of the freeze dry method of graft storage which was developed here is another. This technique is too complicated to be described in detail. It involves the dehydration of tissue which can later be reconstituted. But the chief point is that it permits grafts to be stored at room temperature over long periods of time and shipped without any special handling care. These are the records of the 4,000 persons, both servicemen and civilians, who have already benefited from the tissue bank. Every week, a call for tissue needed in an emergency comes in from somewhere. The splendid success of the tissue bank is told in these files and the prospects of even greater hope for the future are being developed in the tissue bank laboratories where scientific pioneers push at the boundaries of present knowledge in the search for new accomplishments. What you are witnessing here is time-lapse photography showing the growth of cells in tissue taken from a patient who has been dead for some time. What does it mean? What does it reveal? Through this experimental system, scientists may investigate the living cell and factors responsible for maintenance of life at a cellular level under varying conditions. Thus, an understanding of the problems of tissue storage and transplantation might be gained. But to pioneers pushing into new areas of knowledge and discovery, it is an exciting vision. And it is out of the exciting visions of pioneers that new progress has always come. Tissue Bank scientists are looking for a way to preserve bone marrow for future transplantation. If it is successful, new doors will have been unlocked in the quest for a cure for cancer and a major breakthrough in the nuclear age will have been accomplished. The nuclear age has naturally enough brought a field of medicine of its own. Nuclear medicine. The Naval Medical Center provides an excellent glimpse into the work that is being done in this new branch of medicine. [Music] It is a broad subject which includes the use of radioisotopes as medical tools in the diagnosis and treatment of human beings as well as studies of the biological effects of ionizing radiation and the control of radiation hazards. Substantial progress in many areas of research, diagnosis, and therapy has already been made in this continuing effort to discipline radiation and make it work for the betterment of mankind. And there is little doubt that even greater benefits for all people lie ahead. [Music] The sea of course has always been the special concern of the navy and it is to the sea that we turn for another important phase of naval medical research. Specifically, we turn to the research being done in submarine medicine. [Music] This is the military medical specialty which supports all underwater operations in the Navy which includes diving as well as submarine operations. Intensive research has been successful in solving many of the medical problems associated with deep sea diving, notably in the area of decompression from the bends. This information is useful to all civilian divers. particularly is it helpful in the protection of men engaged in the construction of tunnels under rivers or other bodies of water. The submerged submarine is a sealed capsule. Nuclear submarines are designed to run most efficiently underwater. Hence, once they are on the high seas, they operate continuously in a submerged condition. In order to permit this, Navy medicine has had to solve the problem of removing dangerous impurities from the air and supplying sufficient oxygen. This is a problem similar to that which is involved in the consideration of space travel. Discussion of space travel leads us inevitably into a report on what the Air Force is doing in this exciting new field. By nature, man is a groundling, fit to live and exist only as high as his legs will permit him to climb. But by nature, man is also ambitious and curious and determined to transcend his own environment. At the Air Force's School of Aerospace Medicine, intensive investigation of man under conditions resembling space flight are demonstrating facts about himself that man has never known before. He learns that the biological, physiological, and psychological problems he faces as he prepares to leave the atmosphere surrounding the Earth are many and complex. The Air Force studies reveal valuable information about his dependence on oxygen. At what stage its lack impairs his efficiency? [Music] At what stage it imperils his life? [Music] [Music] Outside his own environment, man faces a grave danger through gravity forces. The push or pull of gravity that comes when he is subjected to acceleration. These studies show how he can tolerate these forces. [Music] They measure his reaction to weightlessness, a condition man has never known in all his long history, but one which would be present in space travel. [Music] [Applause] Heat up here. become insights and knowledge primarily applicable to man in space. Scientists do not hope to change basically man's earthbound nature. But already in the machine age, man has adapted himself to conditions that would have been considered intolerable 50 years ago. In the same way, he is adapting himself to the challenges which existence in space poses. And as he meets these challenges at space flight, these studies will have helped point the way. [Music] But more than man's ability to function in space is revealed in this intensive research. Man himself lies exposed to the scientist's gaze as he has never been before. [Music] New and significant depths into the nature of man are plumbed. And this, of course, has important applications to the future of man's well-being on Earth as well as in space. For the more science understands man, the better medicine will be able to take care of him. Earlier we mentioned the assistance which army medics gave earthquake victims in Chile in 1960. All the services extend this kind of cooperation to people all over the world wherever it is needed. [Music] The Air Force provides a splendid example of the kind of service which can be and is provided. It has disaster teams which train for just such emergencies. These teams with the supplies and equipment necessary stand ready to be flown on a moment's notice wherever they are needed. a dramatic and fitting symbol of the way in which American military medicine brings its benefits to people around the world. [Music] The primary responsibility of military medicine remains today what it's always been to conserve the health and strength of our military defense team. Its task is to continue to provide rapid and effective medical support in keeping with continuous changes in technology and weaponry. In pursuit of its mission, military, as we've shown in this report, has also made the world at large a healthier place in which to live. This dividend for humanity will continue. For medical science, by its very nature is noble, even when it's rooted in military necessity. It works for the common good. [Music] [Applause] [Music]