Annual Report the Surgeon General United States Army Fiscal Year 1960
PUBLIC INFORMATION
Special efforts were made during the year to keep the public informed of AMEDS activities related to improving the outpatient service for military personnel and their dependents, providing better protection against the increasing hazards of radiation, developing preparedness measures for meeting mass casualty situations, lowering the noneffective rate for Army troops, and maintaining high standards of medical care. Particular emphasis was also placed upon publicizing AMEDS accomplishments in the fields of psychiatry, cardiac catheterization and open-heart surgery, preventive medicine, and research and development. The continuing objective of the public information program was to instill and maintain confidence in the ability of the Army Medical Service to conserve the fighting strength of the troops and to provide the American soldier with the best possible medical care.
This program was carried out by means of news releases, press conferences, feature stories, articles for professional publications, radio and television programs, films, exhibits, fact sheets, brochures, and talks by AMEDS personnel before civilian professional gatherings and community groups. More than 1,300 technical papers, original articles, speeches, and films prepared by AMEDS personnel were cleared through TLO (Technical Liaison Office), OTSG-a sharp increase over the average of approximately 1,000 cleared in previous fiscal years.
The activity which received the widest publicity in this country andabroad during the year was the disaster relief mission to Chile in May1960.
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The Technical Liaison Office arranged for the showing of 169 AMEDS exhibits throughout the United States and in Canada. While most of these were displayed at meetings of civilian professional organizations, they were also exhibited at local defense exercises and at civic celebrations, such as the Colorado State Centennial, 'Rush to the Rockies.' Widespread showings occurred during Armed Forces Week.
A special display of exhibits portraying the AMEDS support of the field army was staged for more than 600 industrial leaders, scientists, and high-ranking military officers, as well as newsmen from throughout the Nation, who attended the Project MAN (Modern Army Needs) exhibitions at Fort Benning, in May 1960. Included among the exhibits was the new AMEDS turbojet helicopter ambulance, the Bell HU-1A (Iroquois), which also demonstrated battlefield evacuation of wounded during the mock battle problems which featured the project. New medical materiel developed by the Medical Equipment Development Laboratory at Fort Totten, N.Y., was shown in the exhibit, 'New Materiel for Combat Support.' Among the 18 items displayed were a battery eliminator capable of supplying the different voltages required by surgical and diagnostic instruments of varying sizes, some with light bulbs so small that they are known as grains of wheat; a light, compact, and easily portable folding bed for field use; the jet injection hypodermic for mass inoculation of troops; a sturdy electrocardiograph built for use by field units; and an inflatable stretcher which can float a patient across streams.
A special exhibit depicting the activities of the Army Medical Service was constructed for the annual traveling exhibit tour, 'This is the Army, '60,' sponsored by the Secretary of the Army. Two exhibitsused in training personnel in connection with the Army's Emergency Medical Care Program were displayed at three seminars on Medical Aspects of Health Mobilization conducted by the Division of Health Mobilization, USPHS, in New York City, Battle Creek, Mich., and Alameda, Calif. AMEDS personnel participated in these seminars.
Professional AMEDS officers provided technical advice and assistance in the production of the Big Picture film, 'This is the Army Medical Service,' first shown on television to millions of viewers throughout the United States.
Information officers in TLO and the AMEDS class II installations and activities gave assistance to personnel procurement officers in the recruitment programs of the various corps. This assistance included the release of news stories and feature articles, the preparation of new brochures and pamphlets, monitorship of advertisements in professional journals, technical aid in the production of television clips, and the creation of pictures and slides. Some of the class II installations
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operated speakers' bureaus as a means of stimulating better community relations with civilian groups, health agencies, elementary and highschools, and universities. All class II installations and activities were urged to establish these bureaus.
Close liaison was maintained with civilian medical societies and allied organizations in the continuing effort to weld a stronger link between military and civilian medicine. Numerous AMEDS officers actively participated in the programs of the organizations with which they are affiliated. The Surgeon General headed a large group of AMEDS officers who took part in the annual convention of the largestof the civilian medical organizations, the American Medical Association, in Miami Beach, Fla., 13-17 June 1960.
Fourteen civilian specialists from the Society of Medical Consultants to the Armed Forces were assigned to temporary duty during the year as consultants to The Surgeon General to observe activities of Army medical treatment facilities in oversea areas. The Technical Liaison Office assisted the Society in publishing and distributing their observations and recommendations to all members of the Society.
