Newborn Footprints Change with Technology

PALM SPRINGS, INDIO AND JOSHUA TREE – Technology has edged out the long-used messy ink pad to capture a newborn baby’s footprints at The Desert Care Network Hospitals — JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio, Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, and Hi-Desert Medical Center n Joshua Tree.

The trio of hospitals has installed a new and innovative Infant Safety System developed by CertaScan Technologies. The proprietary system allows the hospitals to capture high resolution newborn footprints which can be used for precise identification in situations like an abduction, lost baby, or natural disaster.

“With this new technology, the scan is securely placed into the infant’s Electronic Medical Record,” said Todd Burke, Director of Communications for Tenet Healthcare in California.  The family leaves the hospital with a “Baby’s First Footprint” certificate. This system has also garnered praise from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as this is a biometric, unique to each baby, and can be used as another means of identification throughout their lifetime.”

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.

“We are so proud of the care we provide to newborns and their families at Desert Care Network hospitals,” Michele Finney, CEO of the Desert Care Network, said in a prepared statement. “This new technology will offer even more comfort and peace of mind to the families welcoming newborns into the world at our hospitals.”

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 footprints and security photo can be stored efficiently in the newborn’s electronic medical record. And, much like fingerprints, footprints are a biometric, unique to each baby, so they can be used for identification throughout a lifetime.

Each new mom receives an attractive certificate of her newborn’s footprint during her stay.  When she returns home, she can click here  to enhance the certificate with colors, different fonts and borders. She can also download a digital copy of her baby’s footprint.

Desert Care Network hospitals are the first hospitals in the desert communities to provide this innovative service to moms, according to Burke.

About Desert Care Network

Desert Care Network is an integrated healthcare system consisting of three acute care hospitals and 30 affiliated entities, including ambulatory surgery centers, urgent care centers, clinics and ancillary services, across the desert. The hospitals are Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio, and Hi-Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree. We serve many diverse communities throughout the desert, enabling the more than 125,000 patients we treat every year to access quality, coordinated care and advanced specialty services at convenient locations close to where people live, work and play.