◆ SpookStack

. The end result is that the Administration pursues an ever expanding war and creates an illusion with the American public that it will soon be over. Meanwhile the enormous loss of lives and treasure goes on while we stubbornly refuse to teke the steps which could lead to negotiations. Because of its poor militery posture in Vietnam the Administration presses this grim war of ettrition until it calculates it can dominate any negotiation or force unconditional Surrender. | . 5. The Quaker Program A year later the Quang Ngai Hospital looks grinmer and more overwhelmed with casualties than before. At the time of my visit this 00-bed hospital had. a 750 patient load plus some patients on porches and entryways who were not actually enrolled in the hospital. It continues to be a shattering experience to walk through these over-crowded wards with petients two to a bed, with inadequate medical staff and inadequate sanitary facilities or even water. J observed patients leaving the wards and going to the toilet in the grassy spots adjacent to the buildings. Some wards had one cold water spiggot for over 100 patients. In one orthopedic ward there were 28 beds with 77 patients present, 14 of whom were on a double line of stretchers on the floor of the one corridor. The previous Sunday the 30' x hO' admission ward was overwhelmed with 60 civilian wounded who had suddenly arrived after a brief military action some twelve miles to the north. You can imagine the addition of 60 patients, many of whom were badly wounded and bleeding, to an already overwhelmed staff and hospital. As Joe Clark, the Quaker director of the prosthesis program, said, "It was sheer carnage." Into this rather grim picture has come the Quaker physical therapy and prosthesis program now operating in a new building where 20 Vietnamese apprentices manufacture artificial limbs primarily from local materials. There is a current production level of approximately 200 limbs a month and an objective of 300 limbs a month under present goals, These limbs are being fitted on a small number of the over ),000 amputees in Quanz Ngai Province who, like all the other Vietnamese in jhe northern provinces of South Vietnam, have no other available prosthetic service. It is a moving experience to see a mother holding the hand of her )-year-old son as she leads him through the practice steps of learning to walk with an artificial limb. There is also a “forgotten ward” which has been turned over to the Quakers which is occupied by what can only be classifit as the human refuse of the war. These are people who are far too il] to leave the hospital and yet who are being pushed out because of the pressure of incoming casualties. An old, abandoned building has been scrubbed and put in useable condition and here a Quaker nurse encourages the patients to get up from their canvas cots to try walking around and encourages their attendance at the prosthetic and physical therapy center. Most of the patients are wholly ignorant of the need to exercise the wounded muscles and have no knowledge of the technique: for recovery, particularly when artificial limbs are involved. Yet they are eager learners with the encouragement and love of these Quaker workérs. An outstanding service of binding up the wounds of war is now underway which in time will match those other great Quaker; stories such es the child-feeding program in Germany or service in tne Soviet Union during the Russian famine. One must be aware that many of these patients have active infections and during their physical rehabilita- tion the Quaker workers are changing bandages. Many poor medical practices cause Severe problems. For example, one young Jad had his foot in traction and a tight. bandage ground his ankle. This was never changed or his position moved for severa’ weeks with the result that the constricted circulation of blood plus his wounds caused severe leg infections and almost total atrophy of the foot itself. —23-