FORT DODGE, Iowa — It’s the first of its kind in Iowa.
After months of planning, the Fort Dodge Fire Department is now home to a Safe Haven Baby Box.
"When they approached us to possibly install this in our facility, immediately I said yes," Fort Dodge Fire Chief Steve Hergenreter said at the box's official unveiling ceremony Thursday.
The Safe Haven Baby Box was created by Indiana native Monica Kelsey, who was abandoned as an infant and now travels the country implementing the boxes at various hospitals and fire stations.
"This box is going to help this community and beyond, to make sure that these children are protected and that their mothers are protected," Kelsey told Local 5.
Twenty-four hours a day, any mother or father wanting to safely surrender their child can now do so at the Fort Dodge Fire Station, safely and anonymously. Once an individual opens the door, they’ll be able to safely place the child into the box, which holds a small cradle and is temperature-regulated.
"Once the infant is put in the box, there is a 60-second delay, and then our dispatch communication system sends us a tone to notify our staff that a baby has been placed in there," Hergenreter said, adding that the 60-second delay allows a parent time to leave the premises.
The baby is then evaluated by paramedics and taken to the Trinity Regional Emergency Department in Fort Dodge for a full evaluation. The Safe Haven company and Iowa's Department of Health and Human Services are also notified, Hergenreter said.
In Iowa, the baby box wouldn’t have been possible without the new expansion of the state’s Safe Haven Law, pushed forward by state representative Ann Meyer.
"The new language gives them anonymity to actually place the baby in a 24-hour facility without handing the child off to someone directly," Meyer said. "What the Safe Haven Law does is it protects the parents from any legal consequences."
The new Safe Haven box comes just under a year after a mother and father in Fort Dodge pleaded guilty to drowning their newborn.
But with the addition, Hergenreter hopes something like that will never happen again in their community. And though it’s now the only safe haven baby box in Iowa, he hopes other stations in Iowa will follow their lead.
“There are gonna be other fire departments in Iowa that will move this way," Hergenreter said. "It's only a matter of time."