St. James becomes first hospital in state to feature digital footprint | Future Tech
A nurse at St. James Healthcare gently grabs the newborn’s foot and places it on a scanner. Shortly after, an image of the footprint appears on a nearby screen. Then the nurse grabs the other foot and repeats the process.
When the nurse is done, Kellan Dever becomes the first newborn in Montana to have his footprint digitally preserved.
On Thursday, St. James unveiled new technology that creates a digital scan of an infant’s footprint, replacing the traditional ink-and-paper method.
“It’s a new and improved way to take babies’ footprints,” according to Katherine Burke, a nurse at St. James Healthcare.
The new technology from CertaScan takes the digital scan and matches it to an identification photo of the infant as well as to the mother’s index fingerprints. The data then remains in CertaScan’s secure online database to be used by mothers for sentimental purposes or for identification in forensic cases.
Digital footprinting offers more detail and durability than the ink-and-paper method, which is known to smudge or fade over time, rendering the prints useless in identification cases.
“Your footprint just gets bigger; the data doesn’t change,” says Christopher Tillery, the national training manager for CertaScan.
Previously, authorities would have to go directly to a hospital to identify a child because the footprints were physically stored in the patient’s medical file. Now, footprints can be searched for in CertaScan’s online database, which partners with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
“We can then run the footprint in our system to connect the authorities to the hospital,” Tillery says. “All CertaScan does is help connect the dots.”
The CertaScan encrypted database applies a unique numerical code to each footprint, which allows for only the hospital to have access to the infant’s identity.
Since 1965, 325 infants have been abducted, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and approximately 45 percent of infant abductions occur at healthcare facilities.
“The new technology just makes us (my family) feel a lot more secure,” said Stephanie Dever, Kellan’s mother and a nurse at St. James Healthcare in the labor and delivery unit. “I think it’s fantastic that we are on the forefront of this technology.”
It takes about 30 minutes to train a nurse to use the technology. The all-inclusive work station on wheels is easily transferred between rooms and eliminates the mess of ink.
“He was calm, didn’t even notice it was happening, and there’s no ink to wipe off his foot,” Dever said.
Debbie Forkan, the senior director of women’s services at St. James Healthcare, championed the efforts to acquire the technology. The St. James Auxiliary Volunteer Group donated $2,500 to help fund the project. Those funds were then matched by Dr. Nick DiGiovine and his wife Judy and by The Montana Standard.
The money will be enough to fund the services from CertaScan for the next three years.
The service adds no extra costs for new mothers, who also receive free access to the online database. The CertaScan services cost the hospital an estimated $9.50 per child, which is comparable to the cost of materials for ink prints.
SCL Health hospitals in Billings and Miles City will be the next in Montana to receive the new technology. According to Tillery, the CertaScan technology is used in just under 70 hospitals across 30 states.
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