Ocala’s Fire Rescue Headquarters will soon house Florida’s first Safe Haven Baby Box.
“Mom doesn’t have to do anything except open the door and place the child. There’s a heater, cooling unit and it’s alarm activated,” Monica Kelsey said.
Kelsey is the Founder and CEO of Safe Haven Baby Boxes. She said, while all states have a Safe Haven law, allowing mothers to surrender their newborns to hospitals and fire stations without fear of prosecution, officials are still finding one dead abandoned baby every three days. Kelsey said she almost wound up a part of that statistic. After retiring as a firefighter and medic, Kelsey created a safety device that’s installed into the wall of a fire station or hospital. Once the door is opened, a silent alarm is activated.