25-27.01.1911
The Vilnius Society of Emergency Medical Care was founded on the initiative of Count Władysław Tyszkiewicz and his wife Maria Krystyna. The society's charter was approved on 20 December 1899, but actual operations began only in 1902 due to a lack of funds. The official opening of the station took place on 8 December 1902, making Vilna the fifth city in the Russian Empire to have such a service, after Warsaw, Łódź, Częstochowa, and Kyiv. Count Tyszkiewicz purchased two horse-drawn carriages and medical supplies in Vienna at his own expense. The first station was located in the city administration building on Dominikonų Street, where the fire brigade was also housed.
The society was maintained through charity and membership fees. By 1904, it had 321 members. A doctor, two orderlies, and an attendant were on duty at the station around the clock; a call could be relayed through any city police officer by telephone. In the first month of operation, assistance was provided to 223 patients, in 1903 — to 3,414, and by the beginning of World War I — to about 57,000 people.
On 25 January 1911, 588 years had passed since the first written mention of the city.
1 Kopek 1911.
Vilnius Society of Emergency Medical Care, Vilnius, Lithuania.
