[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 38 (Friday, March 15, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E318]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       IN HONOR OF THE SALINAS VALLEY MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, March 15, 2013

  Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Salinas 
Valley Memorial Healthcare System on its sixtieth anniversary of caring 
for the health needs of Monterey County. Community leaders began 
fundraising for a new hospital in 1941. World War II postponed those 
efforts. They resumed in 1947, after the State of California passed an 
act allowing taxation districts to be established in local communities 
for the building of hospitals. All funding for the hospital was local; 
no state or federal funds were used in the project.
   The hospital was named Salinas Valley Memorial to honor the memory 
of ``the men and women of the armed forces who made the supreme 
sacrifice for their community and their nation.'' It opened on April 
20, 1953 with 138 beds, 100 employees and 45 physicians. President 
Dwight D. Eisenhower sent a letter of congratulations in which he 
wrote, the ``People of Salinas have every right to be proud of this 
admirable example of local self-reliance and initiative.'' Roy Diaz, 
who survived the Bataan Death March, was in attendance at the 
dedication; he still lives in the area and will help Salinas Valley 
Memorial Healthcare System celebrate its anniversary.
   The hospital was state-of-the-art when it opened. Still, the 
advancements in technology over the next twenty-five years were greater 
than the founders could have imagined. Partnerships with universities 
and other healthcare organizations like Visiting Nurses and Doctors On 
Duty allow Salinas Valley Memorial to expand and deliver world-class 
health care into communities across the Central Coast. It is currently 
licensed for 269 acute care beds. Today there are more than 1,600 
employees with more than 250 physicians on staff.
   The hospital has won numerous awards for its cardiac care center 
from such organizations as the American Heart Association and Blue 
Cross/Blue Shield. In 2011, it was honored as being one of only 110 
U.S. hospitals given the international designation of baby-friendly by 
the World Health Organization and UNICEF.
   Mr. Speaker, I know the whole House joins me in congratulating 
Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System on its anniversary, and wish 
them many more years of quality service to the public.

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