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Cambridge Memorial Hospital is making history as the first hospital in Waterloo region to introduce technology designed to prevent baby abductions.
Called Hugs, it is a small monitoring device that is placed around a baby’s ankle. It connects to the hospital’s real-time location system, and if someone attempts to remove a baby from the pediatric care unit without proper clearance, alarms sound, elevators stop, doors lock and all hospital staff are alerted right away.
“It’s been very well received from parents,” said Melissa Sockett, who manages the hospital’s emergency department. “If the child happens to be in the nursery and mom and dad want to go get a coffee, they know that their child is being cared for in the unit.”
The hospital began using the devices on Oct. 1.
The idea goes back to 2010, when the hospital began planning an expansion. It wasn’t until that expansion was completed earlier this year that the Hugs devices could be implemented.
According to Sockett, the hospital has never had an attempted abduction. But with more than 1,500 births each year she says the hospital wanted to be proactive.
“Keeping staff and patients safe has always been a priority,” she said. “This system is another layer in that approach.”
Infant abductions are ‘relatively rare’
According to the Missing Children Society of Canada, there were 32,680 missing child reports filed in Canada last year.
Patricia Hung, president of missing persons and police partnerships at the Missing Children Society of Canada, says that infant abductions are “relatively rare” in Canada.
Despite their rarity, Hung says hospitals should still take them very seriously.
“Even though they are low risk, they have a high impact and high potential for harm,” she said.
Hung says hospitals should take a multi-faceted approach to protecting against abductions, combining physical security measures, consistent staff training, parental awareness, ID bands and real-time alert systems like Hugs.
“No single measure is perfect on its own,” she said. “But together they create a strong, reliable safety net.”
