Michael Reese Hospital, an affiliate of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, was the first medical resource to aid victims of an Illinois Central commuter train wreck in Chicago yesterday morning. The accident, the worst railroad disaster in the US in 14 years, claimed 44 lives and injured 320.
Reese Hospital, about 200 yards from the site of the wreck, immediately implemented its disaster plan. Doctors and nurses reached the tracks within minutes and within the first four hours following the wreck, 153 victims were treated in the hospital’s emergency room.
James P. Rice, executive director of the Jewish Federation, the Jewish Welfare Fund and the Jewish United Fund, reported that many members of the JUF Women’s Division were among the scores of volunteers serving at the hospital during the emergency. He said that Federation staff members went to the hospital to provide whatever assistance they could to the hospital staff.
Also on hand were Rabbi Ephraim H. Prombaum, the chaplain assigned to Reese Hospital by the JUF-supported Chicago Board of Rabbis, and Rabbi Mordechai Simon, executive director of the Board. Rabbi Simon also assisted at Mercy Hospital where other victims of the train wreck were treated.
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