By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
A Safe Haven Baby Box installed at the Glasgow Fire Department is now officially available for use after a blessing ceremony there Wednesday.
State law allows a parent to relinquish an infant younger than 30 days at a staffed police station, fire station, hospital or participating place of worship that has this type of device without fear of criminal prosecution or allegation of neglect.
From the outside of the fire department headquarters at 203 S. Broadway St., next to the 9/11 Emergency Responders Memorial, a person desiring to make use of the option would open a door placed within the brick exterior wall, place the infant in the provided bassinet and close the door, after which the door locks and neither the parent nor anyone else can open it from that side. After a 60-second delay, allowing the parent to leave, a silent alarm is triggered to notify the alarm company, which then calls the Barren-Metcalfe Emergency Communications Center, which is actually at the opposite end of the same building as the fire department, to let them know to dispatch emergency personnel to the site. Meanwhile, an audible sound inside the building occurs to let any firefighters in the vicinity know of the potential presence of an infant.
On the inside of the station, a Plexiglas wall/door with holes allows the air in the room to circulate to the infant in the bassinet. It can be opened and the child retrieved from there.
Kicking off Wednesday’s event was William Rock II, who was the GFD chief until the end of September, when he retired, so he had been involved with the project since its inception. He said he was pleased with the turnout for something that had been a long time in the making and had finally come to fruition. In addition to several firefighters, a few dozen other individuals had gathered as well.
Bart Warren, the minister at South Green Street Church of Christ, one of the churches involved with raising funds to make this possibility a reality.
He said that in Proverbs 31:8, the Bible indicates the right thing to do is to speak up for those who have no voice.
“The reality is that there’s mothers and children who need someone to speak up for them and offer them hope,” he said. “We may have mothers who need options, who need viable, safe options. We may have babies who need opportunities, and this provides for both.”
Citing John I, Chapter 1, Verse 17, he said that “if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?”
“We’ve been blessed here in this community,” Warren said. “We have resources, and so because we have those resources, we have responsibilities.”
He said there are people here with vision, creative minds who are looking for new ways to bless others, with servant hearts and compassionate hearts, in a community that loves and wants to serve those with no voice and use their resources to help those in need.
Mayor Henry Royse said the circumstances under which they were there was “a stirring situation.” Around them were reminders that no one knows what tomorrow will bring.
“The same type situation can come before a young mother, a young mother to be, in trying to be responsible, she may well think she’s out of options, which is why I feel so strongly about the potential of we have here and the importance of making it known that we have it here …,” Royse said. “It is an important part of our community.”
He said he couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be in a situation of trying to weigh the options that might lead to using the baby box, but he was glad the GFD, other first responders and the city in general were committed to making it available.
Councilman Terry Bunnell lauded Rock’s efforts as he put his heart and soul into the project and he also expressed gratitude to Leland Glass, who brought the idea to Rock and coordinated the fundraising efforts.
He said the compassion and caring shown to those in our community with something like this makes a difference.
“I hope the doors are never opened to this, but yet, when they are opened, there are people to respond ..,” Bunnell said. “When someone needs this, we’re there for them.”
He expressed gratitude to the various emergency responder agencies.
“You’re all part of this, and you’re making a difference in our community. Folks, we’ve got to be about taking care of one another,” Bunnell said. “This is community. We look at this as community, how we can help. We’re a caring community folks, and you being here today shows that.”
Jessi Getrost, representing the Safe Haven Baby Boxes organization, said this makes the 274th box nationwide and 44th in Kentucky to be opened. They’ve had 151 safe haven surrenders, 52 of which were through boxes like this, she said. She said they are in 20 states now.
Monica Kelsey, the organization’s founder and CEO, started the initiative after traveling to South Africa and seeing a baby safe at a church there and spoke to the pastor about it, Getrost said. On her flight home, she drew a prototype on an airplane napkin of what she wanted to start in the United States.
“I’ve been honored to watch from the beginning her dedication, her persistence and her passion for these innocent lives,” Getrost said. “She’s raised awareness and educated as many as she can on the safe haven laws and the Safe Haven Baby Boxes. Monica has an amazing story that drove her to be the voice of these babies and of these mothers.
“She found out that her birth mother, only 17 years old, that was raped and brutally attacked and left on the side of the road, had abandoned her at a hospital only two hours after she was born.”
She thanked the various individuals and groups involved and then called upon Allen Jones, associate minister of South Green Street Church of Christ, who led a prayer.
Getrost then announced that the box was now open to this community or those around it, to anyone who needs it.
“This box offers no shame, no blame and no name,” she said, inviting those in the crowd to go inside the building to see what the device looked like on the other side.
The yearlong process for getting such a device installed locally began when Glass heard a story on the radio about how one of them had been used. Glass, an elder at South Green Street Church of Christ, subsequently made the decision to pursue the idea and approached Rock about the possibility of having one placed at the fire department.
“He was 100 percent,” Glass said. “I couldn’t ask for somebody better to work with.”
From there, he approached his church and others to raise the funds privately for the costs associated with the device itself, installation and maintenance.
Glass said that his church and two others – Pleasant Hill Church of Christ and Coral Hill Church of Christ – contributed funds to make this project a reality, and so far they have spent roughly $22,000 toward the initial fee of $15,000, plus installation of the device and the alarm system and the $500 annual fee, and they intend to provide funds for its maintenance and for advertising to help ensure community members are aware of the availability of this option.
He said it didn’t take much work on his part, because they all were interested in helping once they heard the idea.
“It’s a good cause,” Glass said. “It’s a blessing to the community.”
Rock told the Glasgow Common Council Public Safety Committee about the idea and told them the funds were being donated. The Glasgow Common Council later approved a five-year lease/service agreement for the device in February.
It took several more months to get the installation done and the mechanism has actually been in place for several weeks now, but with a large notice posted not to use it. The alarm system and dispatching and response efforts had to be tested multiple times before the Safe Haven Baby Box organization would approve making it officially available.
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