McLaren Bay Region Installs State of the Art Newborn Safety System

The McLaren Bay Region Family BirthPlace recently installed a new and innovative Infant Safety System developed by CertaScan Technologies (www.certascantek.com). The proprietary system allows the hospital to capture high resolution newborn footprints which can be used for precise identification in situations like an abduction, lost baby or natural disaster.

The Newborn Safety System — which uses LiveScan Technology — has garnered the attention and praise from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and has been included as a recommendation for hospitals in its most recent Infant Security Guidelines.

The System is entirely safe for use on babies and provides outstanding footprint quality. Nurses prefer the System because it is easy to use, seamless to adopt and replaces the time consuming and messy ink and paper method. The digital foot prints and security photo can be stored efficiently in the newborn’s electronic medical record. And, much like finger prints, foot prints are a biometric, unique to each baby, so they can be used for identification throughout a lifetime.

“At the McLaren Bay Region Family BirthPlace, we already provide excellent care in a family-friendly atmosphere with safety in mind,” said Lori Skrzysinski, patient care services manager of the McLaren Family BirthPlace. “The Infant Safety System will provide an additional level of security for our newborns by digitizing their footprints and allowing parents access to those images even after discharge. We are excited to offer this service to the community.”

Each new mom receives an attractive certificate of her newborn’s footprint during her stay. When she returns home, she can visit www.firstfootprint.com to enhance the certificate with colors, different fonts and borders. She can also download a digital copy of her baby’s footprint. These additional benefits are provided as a gift from McLaren Bay Region and at no cost to families.

About McLaren Health Care

McLaren Health Care, headquartered in Flint, Michigan, is a fully integrated health network committed to quality evidence-based patient care and cost efficiency. The McLaren system includes 12 hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, the state’s only proton therapy center, an employed primary care physician network, commercial and Medicaid HMOs covering more than 260,000 lives, home health and hospice providers, retail medical equipment showrooms, pharmacy services, and a wholly owned medical malpractice insurance company. McLaren operates Michigan’s largest network of cancer centers and providers, anchored by the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, one of only 45 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive centers in the U.S. McLaren has 21,000 employees and more than 25,000 network providers. Its operations are housed in more than 300 facilities serving a 54-county market and 75 percent of Michigan’s population. Learn more at McLaren.org.

About McLaren Health Care

McLaren Health Care, headquartered in Flint, Michigan, is a fully integrated health network committed to quality evidence-based patient care and cost efficiency. The McLaren system includes 12 hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, the state’s only proton therapy center, an employed primary care physician network, commercial and Medicaid HMOs covering more than 260,000 lives, home health and hospice providers, retail medical equipment showrooms, pharmacy services, and a wholly owned medical malpractice insurance company. McLaren operates Michigan’s largest network of cancer centers and providers, anchored by the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, one of only 45 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive centers in the U.S. McLaren has 21,000 employees and more than 25,000 network providers. Its operations are housed in more than 300 facilities serving a 54-county market and 75 percent of Michigan’s population. Learn more at McLaren.org.