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Show CIVIL DEFENSE Regional, State Training Centers Planned in Civil Defense Program (This Is the fourth of a series of articles on civil defense by Walter A. Shead, Western Newspaper Union's Washington Correspondent.) By WALTER A. SHEAD WASHINGTON, D.C. Authority in the line of command for the tremendous civil defense army needed in case of full scale war stems from the President, through Civil Defense Administrator Millard Mil-lard Caldwell, to the 48 state civil defense directors and down the line to the appointed officers in cities, towns and counties throughout through-out the nation. National defense against atomic, biological and chemical warfare rests upon thorough training to start in a civil defense staff college to be established for top civil defense planners and administrators. The college will serve as a source of all latest information. Regional technical tech-nical training centers are also planned where this information will be disseminated in the civil defense de-fense training programs in the states and local communities. The technical centers will be staffed by thoroughly trained men and women wom-en in . all phases of the work and will provide means for standardization standard-ization of the technical and special training. Standardization is a prime factor for successful mutual aid and mobile support which require a force of uniformly trained civil rlpfpnsi workers. their especially assigned jote, including in-cluding specialized health service courses against atomic, biological and chemical warfare. The American Amer-ican Red Cross, officials of the public health ssrvice and other organizations or-ganizations concerned with health services will conduct certain phases of specialized training such as first aid and nurses' aid training. Many medical officers of the military services, public health services, the veterans administration and other organizations have taken specialized spe-cialized courses in defenses against atomic warfare and these will be asked to assist in the program. ALREADY, in the atomic warfare field, 148 physicians from 38 states have taken courses given by the atomic energy commission in cooperation co-operation with the national security resources board. Similar courses for nurses have been started. Other courses either federal, state or local, lo-cal, will be available for dentists, veterinarians and other professional profession-al and technical people working in health services. State health officials offi-cials have taken courses in radiological radio-logical monitoring which included many aspects of the civil defense program. Similar training courses will be available for biological warfare against humans and animals, and chemical and biological warfare against crops. Courses in these sub- Graduates of the federal technical training centers will train other civil defense workers and trainers within the states, who, in turn, will train the local volunteers. Under the program, two kinds of training will be provided general and specialized. spe-cialized. General training will consist con-sist of instruction in basic subjects to include fundamental princilpes of organization and operation, basic first aid and improvised rescue operations. op-erations. Specialized training will give civil defense volunteers the detailed knowledge and skills to carry out jects will have three prime aspects detection, treatment of casualties, and methods of decontamination. Training will be available for nurses aids and home nurses, radiological monitors, auxiliary sanitary personnel per-sonnel and auxiliary laboratory workers. For large segments of the general gen-eral public, the major type of training train-ing will be in the category of first aidwhat to do first in any of the fields of civil defense. The goal is 20,000,000 trained first-aiders in a 22-hour course which will also include in-clude training in special weapons defense and in procedures for treating treat-ing minor illnesses in time of emergency when physicians will be over-burdened with casualties. Every state will operate under a uniform system of organization, equipment and procedure. Establishment Estab-lishment of control stations in strategic areas, of first aid stations and the implementation of all necessary neces-sary ambulance, hospitalization, fire fighting equipment and a score of other defense mechanisms will be taught. It is estimated that approximately ap-proximately 35 per cent of surviving casualties in an atomic bomb burst would require transportation by litter lit-ter to first-aid stations, hence the importance of first aid work. As an example, if there were 40,000 injured survivors, about 13,000 probably prob-ably would have to be carried by litters. Another 27,000 would walk, or would be taken to first aid stations sta-tions by other means. So the most important function is in first aid training, since even fire-fighters, rescue teams, police, engineering and other personnel, first to contact con-tact the injured, would be called upon for first aid to casualties. So every individual should watch for announcement of establishment of regional training centers and schools for training volunteers. Don't wait, volunteer your services. In the meantime, thousands of pints of blood, both plasma and whole blood, must be obtained and stored. Here is a first and must duty which can be carried out now. (The last of this series of civil defense articles will appear next week.) |
