Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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Ed Yeates reporting If someone tries to take a newborn out of St. Mark's Hospital that isn't their own, doors lock, elevators shut down, and alarms sound all over the place. The heightened security is part of a new million dollar -alert system called "HUGS."
When St. Mark's built the Women's Pavillion, planners decided to go all out to protect infants from being taken intentionally or accidentally by the wrong person.
Allison and Danny Fait graciously demonstrate how HUGS hugs on to their baby if a stranger were trying to take her out of the hospital. Danny, posing as the stranger, can get into the elevator, but can't go anywhere. The doors won't close, it won't operate.
Meanwhile, at the nursing station, an alarm is sounding and pagers are going off alerting staff a baby is on the move. Computer screens identify where the baby is. On overhead speakers throughout the hospital, it's a Code Pink.
With doors locked, elevators inoperable, baby Madison is going nowhere. And it all happened automatically with signals sent from this electronic leg band.
When little Madison here was born yesterday, the hugs band was placed around her leg. You cannot cut it off. You cannot tear it off. In fact, the only way it can be removed is by a special device at the nursing station.
Sandy Osmond / Director, Women's Serivces:" WE'VE SEEN ON THE MEDIA WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SOMEONE LOSES A CHILD. BUT IF SOMETHING LIKE THAT WERE TO HAPPEN HERE IT WOULD BE DEVASTATING FOR EVERYONE. I MEAN THESE BABIES ARE ALL OF OURS AND IT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE PROTECT THEM."
Is it too much? Too many bells and whistles for new parents like Allison and Danny?
Allison Fait / Madison's Mother:: "IN THIS WORLD TODAY YOU KNOW, YOU NEVER KNOW - SO IT MAKES YOU FEEL A LOT SAFER."
Snatching a baby out of a hospital is still a rare event. And there are false alarms if a parent inadvertently walks into an elevator even with their own baby. But still, parents like it just for the peace of mind.
