Dr. Matthew Shields, First Aid Innovator

Reprinted from "The Miner's Lamp", the Newsletter of the PA Anthracite Heritage Museum and Iron Furnaces Associates

Father of First Aid in the United States

A biography of Dr. Matthew Shields details the growth of first aid in industry. He was born in Crawfordville, Geogia, on November 2, 1862. At the age of 19, he came to Pennsylvania to join his brother, Dr. S. S. Shields, a veteran of the Confederate army, who was practicing medicine in Carbondale. Matthew Shields graduated from the University of Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York City in 1888, and in 1889 he set up his medical practice in Jermyn, Pennsylvania. He would hear the breaker whistle blowing when accidents occurred, and became interested in helping the injured and preventing their injuries. In 1899, he organized the original first aid team. He continued first aid at the Jermyn Colliery through 1904, when his house in Jermyn burned down. He then went to live in Scranton in 1905 and while there he contacted Mr. W.A. May of the Pennsylvania Coal Co. to train their workers. He remained at that company from 1905 to 1910, training their employees in first aid. In October 1906, he started the Annual First Aid Contests among mining companies, first held in Scranton, which took place for many years. The American red Cross recognized his efforts and selected him to teach industrial first aid under the Red Cross organization from 1910 to 1917, launching a national first aid movement. He traveled around the country in one of three special Pullman cars specially adapted for first aid instruction. Dr. Shields authored a first aid textbook in 1900, adopting the St. John's book from England to treatment in the United States. He also authored additional manuals and contributed to books by others.

With the coming of World War I, he served as a Major in the Medical Corps. At the conclusion of the war he was discharged, after which he was commissioned a Lieutenant-Colonel by President Woodrow Wilson. He returned to red Cross and continued with first aid work, traveling the country in the special Pullman car, until his retirement in his seventie in 1931. Even after his retirement he continued his active interest in local first aid classes and Boy Scout first aid meets.

He died at his home in Scranton at age 76 after a long illness. The growth of the first aid movement in industry and society, and the lives saved and injuries successfully treated and prevented in the 100 years since his first organized application of first aid to industry, is his legacy.

Sources: 1) Safety Commentator, Feb. 1939; August 1939; August 1942; Dec. 1949-Feb. 1950. 2) The Red Cross Courier, Oct. 1, 1928; March 1939. 3) Encyclopedia of Biography, 1940.

Go back to History Main page...

-top-

Site Designed by Reuther Design