Dec 27, 2017 3 min read

Washington Hospital has established a footprint in infant care in Pennsylvania.

“Footprints have long been a part of infant security, but were really more of a keepsake for parents. They have since morphed into a higher level of infant security,” said Leslie Gostic, nurse manager of obstetrics and women’s health for Washington Health System, parent of the local hospital.

She was referring to the Newborn Safety System, which enables a health-care facility to take high-resolution footprints of infants that not only preserve a warm family moment, but provide a resource for identification if a baby is abducted or lost, or in the case of a natural disaster. These digital footprints can be used throughout the child’s life.

The system was developed by CertaScan Technologies of Fairfield, Conn., in conjunction with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. CertaScan and NCMEC developed a process by which a newborn’s footprints and the mother’s fingerprints are captured shortly after birth to provide precise identification.

“You have a true footprint that doesn’t age or fade,” Gostic said. “If unfortunately you have an abduction, the National Center would come in and positively identify a baby.

“It’s becoming a gold standard of what you should be doing if you want the best security for your infants.”

As before, a new mother – while hospitalized – gets a certificate with her infant’s footprint. Parents later can go to www.firstfootprint.com to dress up the certificate. And if they happen to lose it, they also can print or download another certificate or order one from CertaScan.

The Newborn Safety System is being employed in hospitals in 24 states, but is fairly new. It is brand new in Pennsylvania, where Washington Hospital was the first health facility – and remains the only one – to adopt the system. Gostic said it has been in place since late September but was not publicized until this week because “we wanted to use it for a couple of months to make sure all of the kinks were out. We thought it was a worthwhile project.”

The nurse manager has a keen appreciation for enhanced hospital security. She came to Washington a little more than a year ago from Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, where a 3-day-old was taken in August 2012.

“You don’t think it will happen at your place, but it can,” she said.

Gostic is the linchpin behind delivering this system to Washington Hospital. “I saw it at a conference. Someone shared it with me,” she said. “It was important to get this on board at Washington Hospital.”

The system, Gostic added, is pricey – but priceless at the same time.

“We feel it’s worth it to provide what the community deserves.”