PHOTO ABOVE -- Dorothy G. O'Brien gives an injection to a girl patient. Ms. O'Brien served as
one of the five federal surveyors on the Ernest Hinds.
PHOTO ABOVE -- Rachel Lee,
RN, administers a penicillin shot to a male patient.
PHOTO ABOVE -- Dr. G. Guy Schramm performs a spinal puncture as nurse Bennes Brand assists.
Dr. Schramm was with the
U.S. Public Health Service.
(Source of images: Online Florida State Archives)
PHOTO ABOVE -- A
young woman is x-rayed for tuberculosis. Although all Hinds patients
were x-rayed for this disease, medical personnel
discovered very few cases, fortunately. The State of Florida studied the possibility of
partly using the ship to treat TB patients,
as indicated in the Florida
Times-Union on May 21, 1946. Jacksonville proved in
particular need of such services.
Duval County led the state in TB deaths,
according to the Times-Union of March 10, 1947.
AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION IS WORTH...
-- One shot every two
hours? This was the standard fare for VD patients aboard the Hinds.
No doubt this dismal regiment of injections got old fast. However, treatment
on the ship required only nine days, as opposed to the 72 weeks
that used to be needed for VD treatment.
The first real cure
for syphilis came during World War II. The
wonder drug penicillin was introduced in limited amounts for clinical trials in 1943, and
it was produced in massive quantities in 1944. It sparked revolutionary changes in the
control of infections and venereal diseases.
A year after the war ended in 1945, penicillin became available to VD clinics,
according to
Millstones and Milestones,
a 1964 Florida Board of Health publication.
It was planned that the Ernest Hines would provide treatment for
advanced syphilis. This disease could result in some pretty ugly
consequences, including blindness, heart disease, and mental illness.
According to the Florida Times-Union on June 3,
1946,
the effects on a victim's mind could even lead to commitment to the "State Hospital for the Insane"
(now the Florida State Hospital), located in the panhandle town of
Chattahoochee. Florida's VD program had been mostly limited to finding and treating the early cases of syphilis.
However, more than 600 advanced cases of the disease were reported to the
state's medical officers in 1945, almost double the number of the previous year.
Due to a lack of space, though, few of these sufferers could be assisted at the
VD treatment centers.
OUCH!