Table of contents:
- Mikhail Mikhailovich Tolstoy - Honorary Citizen of Odessa
- Construction of an ambulance station
- Ambulance rules
- Station services were absolutely free
- Ambulance station today
Video: Where and how the first ambulance station appeared in the Russian Empire, which operates to this day
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
In 1881, a terrible catastrophe occurred in Vienna - a fire in the comic opera theater. Then 479 people died. Hundreds of burned people - living and dead - lay in the snow and could not receive medical assistance for 24 hours. It was this monstrous event that was the impetus for the emergence of the first ambulance in Europe. Count Mikhail Mikhailovich Tolstoy Jr. proposed to create a medical institution in Odessa based on the model of the Vienna Ambulance Station.
On the initiative of Tolstoy and on his personal funds, the first ambulance station in the Russian Empire was created in Odessa in 1902. The main objective of this project was to organize round-the-clock emergency medical care in the city.
Mikhail Mikhailovich Tolstoy - Honorary Citizen of Odessa
One cannot but say a few words about Count Mikhail Mikhailovich Tolstoy Jr. himself. A philanthropist, a person who infinitely loves his city. In addition to creating an ambulance station, Mikhail Mikhailovich was the trustee of the Odessa City Public Library for 10 years. Donated to the city a collection of rare editions in the amount of 2000 volumes. All these books are numbered copies, printed on rare types of paper (Chinese, Japanese, Dutch), in leather, brocade, velvet covers. Many books have autographs by authors, artists, publishers, as well as original drawings and watercolors by artists.
But that's not all. The famous Odessa Opera House, built in 1887. One of the five best theaters in Europe. The construction of the theater cost the city colossal money - 1.5 million rubles. And 80 percent of this amount was given by Tolstoy.
Therefore, when in 1909, at a meeting of the Odessa City Duma, it was proposed to elect Count Mikhail Mikhailovich Tolstoy as an honorary citizen of the city of Odessa, taking into account his special services to the city and its inhabitants, the decision was made unanimously.
Construction of an ambulance station
But back to the ambulance station. For a detailed study of the work of this service, Mikhail Mikhailovich went to Vienna. He worked at the station for a whole month. He even went to calls with the doctors on duty as an orderly in an ambulance.
After returning to Odessa, in August 1901, Tolstoy, together with the City Society of Physicians, began preparations for the construction of the station. For 15 months, two buildings and garages for ambulances were built in Valikhovsky Lane according to the project of the famous Odessa architect Yuri Dmitrenko. The station was officially opened on April 25, 1903.
Mikhail Mikhailovich spared no expense for his brainchild. He spent on setting up an ambulance station 100 thousand gold rubles! And for the maintenance of the station for 16 years, Tolstoy allocated a huge amount - about 30,000 rubles per year.
Everything - from the entrance to the lobby to the smallest details of the medical equipment of the waiting rooms - was equipped with the latest science and technology of the early twentieth century. There was even an X-ray machine that had been invented just a few years earlier. In Vienna, Mikhail Mikhailovich ordered 2 special carriages adapted for transporting patients. After the opening, the Odessa Ambulance Station was recognized by specialists as one of the best in Europe.
Ambulance rules
To call an ambulance, according to the rules established personally by Count Tolstoy, the caller had to answer all the doctor's questions: what happened, the exact address, who reports, and then be sure to wait for an answer - "we are going" or "we are not going." And if we "go", then the ambulance left the garage in 20-30 seconds and in 10-15 minutes was at the place of the call. The team consisted of two orderlies and a doctor. The watch was around the clock.
But at the beginning of the twentieth century in Odessa, not every family had a telephone at home. Therefore, for convenience, Mikhail Mikhailovich at his own expense installed telephone machines in the city, intended only for calls to the ambulance. And so that the people did not get confused, I installed instructions on the doors.
The rules also said that the ambulance must go on demand to any institution, to train stations, to shelters, parks and theaters. And she is not obliged to go to the drunk and mentally ill.
Station services were absolutely free
But most importantly, the station's services for the townspeople were absolutely free and provided to everyone, regardless of class and wallet.
“The ambulance station asks not to bother doctors with a vain offer of a fee, which in no case can they accept. Orderlies and coachmen are dismissed immediately from service for accepting handouts,”the last paragraph of the rules for the operation of the Ambulance Station says.
The station workers really valued their place. After all, the doctor received 40 rubles a month, and the orderly 20 rubles! For comparison, a loaf of rye bread cost 4 kopecks, and a loaf of white bread - 7 kopecks. The shirt is 3 rubles, and the coat is 15 rubles. They could not be called poor …
The Ambulance Station, from the moment of its opening, worked as an independent medical institution. Here, departments for seriously ill patients were opened, which were brought by teams, hospitals for victims, an outpatient clinic where patients came themselves.
Ambulance station today
Odessa ambulance station works to this day. Today all districts of the city are served by 7 substations. The unique ambulance station, created by Count Mikhail Mikhailovich Tolstoy, which made Odessa famous throughout the world, won the respect and love of the entire city. From the first days of its existence, the principles of its work were: availability and reliability for anyone who asked for medical help. We stand on that!
In continuation of the Odessa historical chronicles, the story of how the Duke de Richelieu overcame the plague epidemic, or Why there is a monument to Duke in Odessa
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