Congratulations, Marshall; bring on the babies

Congratulations to Marshall Hospital on the successful opening of its new emergency room and maternity ward in the new wing.

The hospital won certification as a Level III trauma center, one of only two in California with that designation. The nurses and doctors are all trauma certified, with surgeons on duty 24/7.

The nurses are all upbeat, professional and considerate of patients and their relatives. The doctors are just the best and absolute whizzes at stitching wounds with minimal scarring. Altogether there are 90 employees in the emergency department.

The emergency center includes the latest in CT (computed tomography x-rays) scanners — two of them.

The department includes 24 beds, two triage rooms, four trauma bays, two isolation rooms and two decontamination showers.

With computerization of patient records throughout the Marshall Medical system, it’s a good bet that current patients will have their medical records and medication list available when the nurses wheel in the new computerized work stations to care for someone brought in to the emergency center.

The birthing center finally brought some attention to exhausted dads by having pull-out beds for them. The birthing center includes 12 postpartum rooms, five large birthing rooms, two outpatient rooms and its own operating room. The postpartum rooms are large enough to accommodate families and friends. The center expects to deliver 500 babies a year. Keep up the good work! This county needs more young people.

California needs more young people. The replacement rate in California dropped to 1.94 children per couple in 2010. The replacement level is 2.1. A report issued this month by the University of Southern California said children were one-third of the population in 1970, but predicts they will only be one-fifth by 2030 — 17 years from now.

A better model for immigration is what this country needs to keep it young and vibrant. That will help California too. Here is what former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Clint Bolick of the Goldwater Institute wrote Jan. 25 in the Wall Street Journal:

“Most immigrants come here to secure a better life for themselves and their families. They cherish the values of hard work, faith, family, enterprise and patriotism that have made this country great. … America’s immigration system should provide opportunities for people who share the country’s core values to become citizens, thereby strengthening the nation as have countless immigrants before them.”

Think about the value and cultural variety that immigrants have provided this country — Germans, Poles, Italians, Norwegians, Swedes, eastern Europeans, Mexicans. Currently there are four ways of entering this country: being one of the high-tech engineers sponsored by a company, sneaking across the border or overstaying a tourist visa, being sponsored by relatives already legally here or being one of the 55,000 admitted by a lottery system. There are 250 applicants for every one of the randomly selected 55,000. That’s pathetic. We can do better than 55,000.