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Show ' ' I 3' -" 'I - '. I , ' v - K ; i ' - " ' ' . : . ;' . . . - I i r-i f, ' : "V. j V. 1, - - - " ' i ." .f '' - ' . " ' ... - ' vJ7 . - 1 ... ; : A . i ' i . ? I - - - Robert Brian Mehl compares his baby photograph, hanging in prominent place in the Allen Memorial hospital nursery, with his baby sister as Nurse Norma Beeson hands her to their mother, mo-ther, Mrs. R. L. Mehl. Ten years ago Robert Brian made history as the first baby born in the institution. Little Marcie is the 2,280th. Their sister, Sta-cey, Sta-cey, doesn't seem to mind being the "outsider." She was born in Kansas. Ten Years and 2,280 Babies Later, Marcie Mehl Joins Local Hospital's First Baby Born Here Isi 195 J Ten-year-old Robert Brian Bri-an Mehl made history when he was born January Jan-uary 17, 1957. He was the first baby in the new Allen Al-len Memorial Hospital in Moab. This week, 2,280 babies later, tiny Marcie joined her brother,.. ,as , an., Allen Memorial '"Hospital baby. Their mother, Mrs. - R. L. Me'hl, made a sentimental journey from Tripoli, Libya, Lib-ya, so her baby could be born in the modern facilities. fac-ilities. At 8:28 a.m. Thurs-da, Thurs-da, May 11, attending physician, phy-sician, Dr. Jay . Munsey, announced. "It's a Girl". She was 19 inches long, and weighed 7 lbs 3 oz. When she grows up, Marcie should have lots of boy friends. During thr; 10-year-interm since her brother was born there have been 42 more boys than girls bom at the hospital. hos-pital. The year 1962 was the record baby year at the hospital; 267 babies registered regis-tered in, 110 girls and 157 boys The smallest crap was last year; only 155 babies were born in 1966, 66 girls, 89 boys. The 10-year 10-year interm produced 29 sets of twins for the hospital. hos-pital. ' , The boy-girl ratio in 1957 was 111 girls, 101 boys; in 1958 there wer.? 118 girls, 145 boys; 1959, 117-116; 1960, 124-122; and 1961, 116-149. In 1962 there were 110 girls and 90 boys. In 1963 112-115. It was even Steven Stev-en in 1964, 90 girls and 90 boys. Girls went on the decline in 1965 and 1966, 75-97 and 66-89. Plenty of Equipment When the hospital was opened, 12 bassinets were installled, but they have never all been in use at once. Eleven 'babies at one time is the nursury re cord. On the other hand, only two cribs were included in the pediatrics department, and that proved to be far from inadequate. Manager Vic Pauls said the capacity has been increased to 7 to handle the' 5 to 8 year old patient load. When the Allen Memorial Mem-orial Hospital was dedica lied, li-ed, it was one of the mott modern in the State. Nevertheless, Nev-ertheless, some up-to-date equipment has been added much through cooperation of clubs and organizations in Moab. When the hospital opened open-ed there was only one croupette; now there are four. Vaporizers, steamers and humidifiers have in creased from one or two to six each. An IPP machine mach-ine has been installed for respiratory treatment of 'both adults and children; the outmoded use of hot water bottles and heat pads has been replaced with Aqua-K-Pads, a rubber rub-ber device filled with circulating cir-culating hot water which . may be strapped to the affected area. There are. five sets of Aqua-K-Pads in the hospital; they need more. More Arvantages ' Today's babies have the advantage of PKU tests, routine at the hospital for the past two years. This whether or not the babies simple test determines whether or not th babi'es are born with a metabolic imbalance which is one cause of mental disease. If corrcted in time through diatary means, the factor is correctable. In the past two years only one positive posi-tive case has been found in Moab, but this child, who might have been mentally men-tally retarded, will grow up normal. When the test was first perfected, it was estimated one in every 10,000 babies would test positive. Now the incidence is known to be as high as one in every 4 or 5 thousand thous-and who require special diatary attention. New sterile ready-packaged formula manifolds have updated the care of newborns in the hospit since Robert Brian was born. The time once used by nursing personnel to prepare formula and sterilize steril-ize containers can now be devoted to direct care of the mother and child. These modern formula packpges are not yet available avail-able for home use, but they will be, Mr. Pauls said. Fees Are Up Robert Brian's sister no doubt cost their parents a little more than he. Today To-day hospital and doctor fees average from $250 to $300 per child. Ten years ago the cost ranged from $200 to $250. The cost of having a baby has not risen in proportion to o-ther o-ther costs over the decade, however, due to shorter duration of the hospital stay. Ten years ago confinement con-finement averaged 7 to 10 days in the hospital. Now, with the new theories of getting the mother on her feet shortly after the birth, she is able to go home in an average of 3 days. Thus though the cost per day in the hospital has upped, babies are not much more expensive. The same theory applies to other types of patients, Mr. Pauls noted. At ona time a simple appendectomy appendect-omy confined a patient at least two weeks; today they often leave the hospital hos-pital in two days. The average av-erage stay of all patients including those who' must remain 3 months or longer is 5 to 6 days today. Maternity care is the most costly of all treat ments to administer in the hospital, due to the many extra in-services necessary neces-sary for proper care of mothers and their newborns. new-borns. However, the hospital hos-pital rates for maternities are still no higher than .corresponding accomodations. accomoda-tions. This is not true of many hospitals over the nation today, Mr. Pauls notes. ' Mjrs. Mehl the former Miss Nannette Evans, and her new baby left the hospital hos-pital Monday, and will remain re-main at the home of her mother, Mrs. Flora Evans, until Mr. Mehl arrives from Tripoli to join them next month. Greeting their new sister was Robert Brian and sister, Stacey, age 8, not an Allen Memorial Mem-orial Hospital baby. She was born in Kansas. |
