St. Rita’s Medical Center, in collaboration with Safe Haven Baby Boxes, is set to implement Ohio’s eighth Safe Haven Baby Box on Wednesday.
The Safe Haven Baby Box is a safe place for an infant to be securely and legally surrendered while maintaining the parent’s anonymity.
The new baby box sits inside the wall of the southwest corner of St. Rita’s Emergency Department, facing Market Street. When the door to the climate-controlled baby box opens, a silent alarm is triggered, alerting police and paramedics. Once someone places a baby in the box the door locks with the baby inside. Staff retrieves the baby from inside the building and immediately takes them to the emergency room for evaluation.
According to the National Safe Haven Alliance, 4,620 babies have been surrendered nationwide since 1999. The Ohio Safe Haven law, enacted in 2001, was introduced in order to reduce the number of babies unsafely abandoned. The law allows a birth parent to leave an infant up to 30 days old with a medical worker at a hospital, fire department, other emergency service organization, or a peace officer at a law enforcement agency.
The Safe Haven Baby Box at St. Rita’s Medical Center will be immediately available after its unveiling as a secure place for infants to be legally surrendered and then placed for adoption.
“The Safe Haven Baby Box is a service we hope our patients and community won’t ever need to use, but it’s an important addition to the compassionate care we offer at St. Rita’s Medical Center. With the addition of this Baby Box, we are furthering our mission and continuing to be a resource for the underserved by helping to ensure the health and well-being of the newest and most vulnerable residents of Lima and our surrounding communities,” Ronda Lehman, president of Mercy Health, said.
Research conducted by Sarah Bassitt, DNP, RN, with St. Rita’s Medical Center, identified a community need in Lima for a Safe Haven Baby Box after a study found more than 24 percent of the population live below the poverty line. Many abandoned infants are either premature or have other medical challenges. St. Rita’s Medical Center became the obvious choice of location so that any surrendered infants can obtain care from a medical team as efficiently as possible.
The Safe Haven Baby Box in Lima is the eighth box installed in Ohio. Others are located in Hicksville, Van Wert, Defiance, Cincinnati, Batavia, Sunbury, and Troy. The organization plans to install more boxes in the state in the future.
Monica Kelsey founded Safe Haven Baby Boxes because her birth parents had abandoned her as an infant. Her own history is what propelled her to start her mission to end infant abandonment and bring awareness and education to Safe Haven laws, providing anonymous and secure locations where infants can be surrendered via Safe Haven Baby Boxes.
“It doesn’t get old hearing a beautiful baby was surrendered legally and anonymously. No one has seen the parent bring the child here, and that is the beauty of the baby box. These parents get the anonymity that they want. These babies are legally, safely, anonymously, and lovingly surrendered. Our job now is to make sure these little guys and girls grow up in a home that has been praying for them for a very long time,” Kelsey said.
Parents in crisis who need help or resources can call the Safe Haven Crisis Line, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at 1-888-99 Baby1.
– – –
Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Infant” by Pixabay.
