The hospital recently installed the $48,000 infant security system that will sound alarms throughout the hospital should a child or baby be taken out of the maternity ward by anyone other than a nurse or family member.

Pediatric Nursing Manager Jan Kneip shows one of the first bracelet sensors to be used at Northern Inyo Hospital. The bracelets will sound an alarm at the hospital if the wearer is transported beyond the pediatric wing of the hospital without authorization. Photo by Mike Gervais

A key-pad has been installed ateach of the sensor points in the hospital, which allows nursing staff, doctors and parents to move through the hospital without sounding alarms during routine work.
“It’s really a wonderful system,” said Pediatric Nursing Manager Jan Kneip. “We have not had any babies taken, but with this we’re complying with regulations” and being proactive.
The new Manageware Infant Security System was installed at NIH two weeks ago, and testing has been completed to prove that the system works.
Though the security system was designed for the pediatric wing of the hospital, it will also serve as a guard against wandering patients, those who may be suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, dementia or any affliction that may make them prone to getting lost.
A bracelet will be placed on the arm of an at-risk subject, either an infant or wandering patient. Should that individual leave or be taken from their designated area, sensors at the doors and hallways in the hospital will sound alarms, telling staff that something is amiss.
The alarm has a distinctly different sound than that of the fire alarm, and it will not relay directly to the police department dispatch, as a fire alarm would.
At least for now, it will be up to local staff at the hospital to report to law enforcement when alarms go off, should law enforcement be needed.
“We have to call it in because it could be an accident,” Kneip said, noting that, with the new system, nurses and doctors may forget to deactivate the alarms when moving babies and infants through the hospital for routine work.
The access codes used to deactivate the alarms will be changed on a regular basis “and won’t be written down anywhere” where they can be obtained by the wrong person.
Also, the alarm bracelets are designed to set off the alarm should they be cut or torn away from the skin of the wearer.
There are two designs for the security bracelets, a plastic bracelet for older children or wandering patients, and, for newborns, a rubber bracelet designed for sensitive skin.
The hospital first considered waiting to install the new security system until the pediatric wing of the hospital had been moved into the new building which is under construction. However, the security system is portable, and can easily be transferred to the new location once it is ready to be occupied, said NIH Grant Writing and Marketing Director Georgan Stottlemyre.
“Statistical data from the FBI and National Center for Missing & Exploited Children show that there have been 248 infant abductions since 1983 by non-family as well as family members,” Stottlemyre said in a press release regarding the new system.
Currently NIH is working on writing grants to help pay for the new system and its installation. Because current state regulations are encouraging hospitals to become more proactive against infant abductions, the funding for the program should be easy to come across.