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I've seen references to the open air treatment but finally found an actual report. Here's a short summary:
One Monday morning Doctor Croke reported that he was getting a great many
cases of influenza so a tent city was set up for all the sick men.
They soon reported that the influenza bacillus predominated in these cultures.
They also found that both Type I and Type III of the pneumococci were present, as was streptococci. Where Type III of the pneumococcus predominated many of the cases were fatal.
The autopsy reports showed death was from abscesses in the lungs so the medical staff decided to give the patients all the air possible.
Thereafter, on pleasant days, every patient was taken out of the tents and put into the open.
From the first day, the results were startling. Almost every patient without
exception had a lower temperature at night than in the morning, and felt decidedly more comfortable.
Out of between 5,000 or 6,000 men on the ships,
between 1,200 and 1,400 had contracted the disease;
351 of the most serious cases were treated at the tent hospital, of whom 35 died.
Very few of the attendents and nurses got sick and only 2 died.
Compared to one general hospital with 76 cases; within three days, twenty of these cases died, and seventeen nurses were down with influenza.
Medical Treatment.
-Very little medicine was given after the value of plenty of air and sunshine had been demonstrated.
Practically only three drugs were used: Dovers powder, some form of aspirin,
and iodide of lime in one-third grain doses.
The patients were fed every two or three hours, and given a variety of food with plenty of fruit. They were also made to drink plenty of water. Their feet were kept warm with metallic hot water bags, or else by means of heated bricks wrapped in newspapers.
Mask Technique.-
It was found that the ordinary masks made out of a number of layers of gauze were very unsatisfactory. Nurses and attendants were constantly dropping the masks, and replacing them with the wrong side next to the mouth and nose.
Improvised wire masks were made out of ordinary gravy strainers. The strainer
was shaped to fit the nose, and five layers of gauze were simple basted on to the wire frame.
There was a superintendent of masks whose duty it was to see that all the masks were changed every two hours and to see that they were properly sterilized and fresh gauze put on.
Observations.
The facts are that the patients do not thrive as well in any ordinary hospital, no matter how well it is ventilated, as they do when they are put right out into the open.
The objection to the sun parlor is that one gets direct sunlight only during part of the day, whereas the patient who is out in the open gets the direct sunlight all day long.
-------------------------
Report By William Brooks
Surgeon-General, Massachusetts State Guard
One Monday morning Doctor Croke reported that he was getting a great many
cases of influenza so a tent city was set up for all the sick men.
They soon reported that the influenza bacillus predominated in these cultures.
They also found that both Type I and Type III of the pneumococci were present, as was streptococci. Where Type III of the pneumococcus predominated many of the cases were fatal.
The autopsy reports showed death was from abscesses in the lungs so the medical staff decided to give the patients all the air possible.
Thereafter, on pleasant days, every patient was taken out of the tents and put into the open.
From the first day, the results were startling. Almost every patient without
exception had a lower temperature at night than in the morning, and felt decidedly more comfortable.
Out of between 5,000 or 6,000 men on the ships,
between 1,200 and 1,400 had contracted the disease;
351 of the most serious cases were treated at the tent hospital, of whom 35 died.
Very few of the attendents and nurses got sick and only 2 died.
Compared to one general hospital with 76 cases; within three days, twenty of these cases died, and seventeen nurses were down with influenza.
Medical Treatment.
-Very little medicine was given after the value of plenty of air and sunshine had been demonstrated.
Practically only three drugs were used: Dovers powder, some form of aspirin,
and iodide of lime in one-third grain doses.
The patients were fed every two or three hours, and given a variety of food with plenty of fruit. They were also made to drink plenty of water. Their feet were kept warm with metallic hot water bags, or else by means of heated bricks wrapped in newspapers.
Mask Technique.-
It was found that the ordinary masks made out of a number of layers of gauze were very unsatisfactory. Nurses and attendants were constantly dropping the masks, and replacing them with the wrong side next to the mouth and nose.
Improvised wire masks were made out of ordinary gravy strainers. The strainer
was shaped to fit the nose, and five layers of gauze were simple basted on to the wire frame.
There was a superintendent of masks whose duty it was to see that all the masks were changed every two hours and to see that they were properly sterilized and fresh gauze put on.
Observations.
The facts are that the patients do not thrive as well in any ordinary hospital, no matter how well it is ventilated, as they do when they are put right out into the open.
The objection to the sun parlor is that one gets direct sunlight only during part of the day, whereas the patient who is out in the open gets the direct sunlight all day long.
-------------------------
Report By William Brooks
Surgeon-General, Massachusetts State Guard
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