Local hospitals use high-tech Hugs program to protect babies
Nov 06, 2007 - 11:45 AM
By Jillian Follert
DURHAM-- A week after a day-old baby girl was abducted from a Sudbury hospital sparking a provincewide Amber Alert, officials at Lakeridge Health are reminding parents that the local hospital network has high-tech measures in place to protect infants in its care.
The Maternal Child Program at the Oshawa and Port Perry sites uses the Hugs Infant Protection system, which sees each newborn outfitted with an electronic ankle bracelet.
Every exit point in the two departments -- including elevators -- is electronically monitored to detect the tags and will trigger an alarm and lockdown if someone tries to leave with a baby. Parents and staff can still move freely with babies, as long as they don't stray too close to the exit doors.
"It's important to have, most of the families are only with us for a short time, so staff might get to know the immediate family but they can't know who every visitor is," said Kim Moran, clinical leader for the Maternal Child Program. "It's great to know a backup is in place."
It puts parents' minds at ease too. Ms. Moran says more new moms and dads are asking about the system, especially after incidents like the one in Sudbury.
Lakeridge has been using Hugs for about four years and was one of the first hospital networks in the area to adopt it. Every year, Lakeridge delivers about 2,300 babies at its Oshawa site and another 300 in Port Perry.
In addition to triggering locks and alarms if anyone attempts to leave with a baby, James Ramsey, manager of security and emergency preparedness for Lakeridge, says the system will trigger if one of the anklets is cut, stretched or tampered with, or if there is a glitch in the monitoring system.
"It's transmitting constantly, so if there is an interruption the alarm will go," he notes.
While some hospitals use a sister program to Hugs called Kisses -- which ensures the right baby goes with the right parent by giving moms a matching electronic bracelet -- Lakeridge sticks with standard hospital issue bracelets for mom, dad and baby that feature matching numbers.
Unlike hospitals that keep newborns in a common nursery, Ms. Moran says babies born at Lakeridge sites stay in their mother's room the whole time, making a mix-up highly unlikely.
Recommend :