PONTIAC -- As a first-time mother, Bethany Rudnicki made sure to follow her doctor's orders -- eat healthy, get enough rest and take vitamins -- during her pregnancy.
But the 27-year-old from Waterford Township was still a little nervous this week when she went into St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital in Pontiac for the delivery. She had heard the horror stories about babies switched at birth and infant abductions from hospitals. Her fears were put to rest, however, the moment she held her newborn son, Devin David, and heard a lullaby. Rudnicki knew the soft chime emanating from microchip-embedded ID bracelets she and Devin were wearing meant she was matched up with the right baby.
More hospitals are using the high-tech bracelet system, called Hugs and Kisses, to help deter baby identification mix-ups and ensure baby safety. In addition to St. Joseph Mercy Oakland, William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak is planning to install the system in September, and officials at Macomb County's St. Joseph Healthcare are considering the technology.
The bracelets play a lullaby every time the baby is placed near mom. Also, the microchips -- embedded in a small music box on the plastic band -- are wired to a sophisticated system that locks down the maternity unit's elevators and stairwells if the baby is taken too close to the exits without mom.
The hospital's alarm will sound even if dad, who doesn't get a bracelet, tries to take the baby off the unit, if only for a walk, said Kate Austin, director of Women and Children Services at the Pontiac hospital.
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