Thanks to Hugs, an abduction is averted

August 12, 2012 Eric Wicklund, Editor, mHIMSS

Allison London Brown

A company well known for its extensive toolbox is behind the technology that thwarted the recent attempted abduction of a newborn from a Los Angeles-area hospital.

Stanley Healthcare Solutions, part of the Stanley Black & Decker chain, is the developer of the Hugs Infant Protection system, which combines an RFID bracelet attached to the infant's ankle with a software package that tracks the bracelet through the healthcare setting and issues alerts if that bracelet nears an exit. In some cases, the system can be configured to sound an alarm, lock doors or shut down elevators.

That system was triggered on Monday, Aug. 6, at Garden Grove Medical Center when a 48-year-old woman allegedly posed as a nurse, tricked the mother into leaving her room, put a newborn into a tote bag and tried to leave the hospital. Officials said she was apprehended in the hospital after the system locked all the doors leading out of the labor and delivery department.

Allison London Brown, Stanley Healthcare's chief commercial officer, says the Hugs solution, introduced in 1998, is being used by more than 1,300 hospitals around the globe, protecting an estimated 1.5 million babies each year.

"We work it into the workflow of the hospital," she said. "We want to be high-tech, but low-key, so that we blend into the environment."

The Hugs system is one of more than 20 safety and security brands marketed by Stanley Healthcare, said Steffan Haithcox, the company's vice president of marketing. They include AeroScout (acquired just two months ago), Arial, Bed-Check, HealthTRAX, InfoLogix, MyCall, RoamAlert, InnerSpace and WanderGuard, to name a few.

Building on the Hugs platform, Stanley Healthcare last year rolled out Pedz, a system for pediatric patients that affixes the RFID tag to a tamper-proof, single-patient, customizable band that can be removed when a child is taken to another department for medical treatment and then re-attached when the child returns. The system can also be customized to allow the patient to wander through certain areas of the hospital and at selected times, with automatic notification if those boundaries are crossed.

Brown said Stanley also provides a Kisses mother/infant matching component, which links the Hugs infant tag with a Kisses tag worn by the mother to ensure that the right infant is matched to the right mother.

Haithcox and Brown say advances in mHealth technology, ranging from RFID tags to software solutions that can remotely link nurse communication system with security systems, are making it easier for healthcare providers to invest in these systems. According to Brown, of the roughly 4,500 hospitals in the United States that have birthing centers, two-thirds have some sort of security system in place.

Combine those statistics with the roughly 270 reported infant abductions from hospitals since 1984, and the need for such safeguards is clearly evident.