A newborn’s footprint is usually a memento for the new parents from the hospital their baby was born at, but now, that same footprint will be used to keep infants safe.
St. Peter’s University Hospital in New Jersey is the first in the tri-state to do it.
An Eyewitness News Reporter Michelle Charlesworth was inside the nursery in New Brunswick when a baby, Abigail, just three days old, became one of the safest and secure babies in the country!
“I sort of always thought this existed, but hey, since we have the technology why not?” said Alicia Wojciechowski, Abigail’s mother.
Now, babies’ footprints can be loaded into a hospital and later a police database- there is no mess, no mistakes, and it is forever safe.
“The fact that there is that added security I like that,” said Lucasz Wojciechowski, Abigail’s father. “They give me peace of mind, and also I can make mugs, I can make a birth announcement, use it for different things, it’s just nice to have that digitally.”
Something we’ve always loved as a keepsake is now being married with common sense! And who better than a nurse to come up with the idea!
“It’s digital, it’s another added level of security and it is something that keeps these babies safe and something the parents can have forever,” said Pamela Harmon, Nursing Director for Women and Children’s Services at St. Peter’s University Hospital.
Harmon first suggested it to the hospital 6 weeks ago and they jumped all over it! The hospital averages 23 babies a day at the hospital, and that is a lot.
“Our founder was asked by the Center for Missing and Exploited Children to come up with something that would provide extra security digitally for hospitals,” said Richard Miller, CertaScan.
Police in the future in the case of a missing child would now be able to find the information within seconds.
“Different people will use it in different ways, some getting a tattoo, jewelry, birth announcements,” Alicia said. “I want to use it for birth announcements.”