Safe and Sound

Recent donations benefit newborns at Baylor Garland

Women who deliver their babies at Baylor Medical Center at Garland are in good medical hands, but now they enjoy extra peace of mind about safety too.

In January, the ARAMARK Charitable Fund awarded Baylor Garland $90,000 to upgrade infant security in the labor and delivery area of the Women's Center to help protect against abduction and safeguard babies' identities.

"Newborn safety and security is a priority. These improvements strengthen our current procedures so we may continue to safely discharge infants to the care of their families," says Sallie Hazelrigg, director of development for Baylor Medical Center at Garland. "We are very thankful to the ARAMARK Charitable Fund."

Infant safety also extends outside the hospital walls-according to state law, newborns can leave the hospital only in a car seat. "We deliver an average of 50 babies each month to mothers who don't have the means to purchase a car seat," Hazelrigg says. Baylor Garland pays about $11,000 per year to provide safety seats to indigent families. ARAMARK Charitable Fund generously bumped up its total gift to $100,000-$90,000 for the security system, plus one year of infant car seats.

A second major grant, also awarded in early 2005, came from the Ecolab Foundation: $22,000 to cover two years of the infant car seat program. That makes three years of car seats provided to families in need.

ARAMARK Corporation, based in Philadelphia, provides food and facilities management services worldwide. Ecolab, based in Minneapolis with a plant in Garland, manufactures sanitizing products for institutional facilities. This is Ecolab's third gift to Baylor Garland.

"These donations enable us to provide a higher level of infant security and safety to the more than 1,700 newborns and babies who receive care at our hospital each year," Hazelrigg says.

By Deborah Paddison