SOUTHEAST HOSPITAL MARKS 70 YEARS

Southeast Missouri Hospital is gearing up for its 70th anniversary. The hospital has come up with a fun way to celebrate this birthday: honor the first babies.

There were 48 babies born that first year of Southeast's operation. Members of the Alumni Club of 1928 will be recognized Thursday night at the hospital's annual dinner. More than 800 people are expected to gather at the Show Me Center for the celebration.

Through some detective work, the hospital staff tracked down 13 of the first babies. The work wasn't easy. Hospital records list only the mother's name, and many of the babies weren't named on the birth form. Of the 13 babies found, seven will attend the annual dinner.

Over the years, the yearly birth numbers have skyrocketed. Today, the hospital delivers more than 1,500 babies a year from Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. It is an impressive number and a real tribute to the obstetric staff and doctors.

The hospital will also honor its first patient Thursday night. Guy Lowes, 91, of Jackson came in for tonsillectomy the day after the hospital opened. He is the father of Cape Girardeau attorney Al Lowes.

The hospital was so new at the time that the physician, D.B. Schultz, brought his own operating table to perform the surgery. Schultz had maintained an office at home.

The annual dinner will also include a musical salute to 70 years of service by the hospital. This tribute is certainly imaginative and should add to the evening's fun.

It is hard to imagine where Cape Girardeau would be without the development of Southeast Missouri Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center, which dates back to 1875. Over the years, the two hospitals have been a part of a top-notch medical community that has turned Cape Girardeau into a regional hub for medical services.