All Routine 'Lab’
Tests Handled Here
By PATRICIA CAIN
Laboratory Technician,
St. Anthony's Hospital
“A medical technologist? Well,
isn’t that nice! But what do you
do?”
That question is put to the
“lab tech” more often than not.
True, a laboratory is a room
filled with intricate-looking ap
paratus, delicate glassware, doz
ens of bottles of solutions and
strange odors. But more than
that, it is the place in which
tests are performed to help the
doctor make a quick and accur
ate diagnosis.
Forr example, if you go to the
doctor with a pain in your ab
domen and he isn’t sure whether
you have appendicitis or have
eaten too many green apples, he
might order the technician to do
a “white count.” An infection
such as appendicitis causes an
increase in the number of white
blood cells circulating in the
blood. But that is only one phase
of laboratory work.
Otner departments include
clinical chemistry, bacteriology,
histology, serology, hematology,
urology and blood typing. The
technician also takes the electro
cardiograms and basal metab
olism tests. Her iob is to perform
the tests carefully and accurate
ly. The doctor then interprets
the results as related to the rest
of the clinical picture.
The laboratory at St. Antho
ny’s is equipped to do any routine
laboratory tests. Unusual tests,
and those which a small hospital
is not equipped to do, will be sent
to the state laboratory in Lin
coln. Items which will catch the
eve of the visiting public are a
hot-air oven for drying and ster
ilizing glassware, an incubator
for culturing bacteria, bunsen
burners, an electric hotplate for
cooking inflamable materials,
such as ether and chloroform, a
small icebox in which volatile
reagents, typing sera and febrile
Miss Cain . . . "lab tech" they call her.
agglutinins are kept, and an
electric hot water bath which can
be set to keep water the same
temperature for long periods of
time.
Life Strenuous for
Pioneer Doctors
By JAMES C. OLSON
Supl. Slate Historical Society
The story of pioneering in old
Nebraska is filled with accounts
of the ravages of disease. Lewis
and Clark, the first American
explorers in this country, re
ported the toll taken by small
pox among the various Indian
tribes. The overland trails were
lined with the rude graves of
thousands of emigrants who had
died from cholera. The early
settlements were in constant
danger of being wiped out by
epidemics.
Doctors were few and far be
tween. After 11 years of settle
ment, for example, Antelope
county had five lawyers and
three preacher?, but only one
doctor. To complicate the prob
lem further, many who were
practicing as physicians in the
early days had only the most
rudimentary qualifications. It is
reported that one early Nebras
ka doctor prescribed only one
remedy, whether the disease was
a cold, the flu, mumps, or mea
sles, and that one concoction
was known as “August Flower
Bitters.”
The practice of medicine in
the early days was a strenuous
one. It called for long rides in
the saddle, day and night, sum
mer and winter, in all kinds of
weather.
Many a pioneer doctor literal
ly gave his life in service to his
patients. It is not uncommon to
hear stories of pioneer doctors
who rose from their own sick
best to ride out over the prairie
in the depth of winter to minis
ter to the needs of their ailing
fellow men.
The early settlers almost uni
versally complained that the fees
charged by the doctors were too
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high. A customary charge in the
early sixties appears to have
been a dollar for the call, plus 50
cents a mile for the ride. In
addition, of course, the patient
had to pay what were considered
exhorbitant prices for the med
icines prescribed by his physi
cian.
Despite this charge, many ear
ly physicians found that they had
to eke out their incomes by oth
er types of activity. Some of
them took homesteads and farm
ed. Others went into the news
paper business. Still others en
tered politics.
Indeed, some of the most sig
nificant contributions to the de
velopment of Nebraska were
made by physicians who entered
other spheres of activity. A
notable case is that of Dr. George
L. Miller. Doctor Miller came to
Omaha in 1854, the year the ter
ritory was organized, as a young
medical practitioner.
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O'NEILL
and Vicinity!
FOR making this
a better communi
ty in which to
live.
★
STANNARD’S
STORE
OPENING of the new St. Anthony’s
Hospital marks a new era in
O’Neill history. This institution is one
of which the entire community is im
mensely proud.
!
8
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— to the Community of O’Neill ~
— to the Sisters of St. Francis
— to the St. Anthony’s Hospital
BELOW is a picture of our new bus
iness establishment now under
construction but nearly completed. §
O’Neill moves forward and we are
privileged to be a {part of this pro- |
gressive community.
M
H
M
#•
Phone 410 LEIDY'S in O'NEILL 7th & Douglas