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Glendale's Abrazo Arrowhead is first with baby ID scanner

Posted 10/24/19

Abrazo Arrowhead Campus is now offering digital scans of newborn footprints that parents can use to create mementos and identification records.

Nurses use a handheld scanner instead of …

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Glendale's Abrazo Arrowhead is first with baby ID scanner

Posted

Abrazo Arrowhead Campus is now offering digital scans of newborn footprints that parents can use to create mementos and identification records.

Nurses use a handheld scanner instead of traditional messy inkpads for the footprints, which are stored in a secure digital system.

Parents receive a certificate with the newborn’s footprints, which can later be customized online and downloaded for sharing with family and friends, according to Brannan Hasl, MSN-Ed., RNC-OB, clinical perinatal educator at Abrazo Arrowhead Campus.

Abrazo Arrowhead Campus, 18701 N. 67th Ave. in Glendale, is the first hospital in Arizona to use the CertaScan footprint scanning system, beginning in early October.

“Newborn footprints are considered a tradition for parents to have as keepsakes, as well as a means of identifying children along with birth certificates,” Ms. Hasl said. “Our new system is safe, easy to use and provides a high resolution image of the baby’s feet. The digital footprints and security photo can be stored 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.”

Information also is stored in an encrypted, password protected database that can be retrieved by the hospital where the footprint is taken and by the mother of the newborn. The baby’s photo and mother’s index fingerprints are included in the digital record.

“I think the new system is a great way to view your baby’s footprints and information about the time of birth, and the height and the weight, and it’s also pretty good for doing birth announcements and it’s easy to get straight to it online,” said Latosha Smith of Phoenix, who watched as couplet care nurses used the system shortly after her daughter’s birth.

The digitally stored newborn footprints may also be used for precise identification in situations like an abduction, lost baby or natural disaster, offering parents an added sense of security, Ms. Hasl noted.