Nassau ambulances get baby safe-haven logos

Nassau County ambulances will be the first in the nation to carry logos identifying them as official safe haven drop-off sites for unwanted babies, according to County Executive Edward Mangano.

The program, previously not advertised, allows a mother or a responsible adult to call any available ambulance company or hospital ambulance and anonymously give them a child 5 days old or younger.

"The message is simple: If you truly feel that you cannot care for your baby, you have options. Find a safe haven location and put your baby into safe and caring arms," Mangano said in the county executive building's parking lot, overcrowded with six ambulances bearing the logo for safe havens.

The campaign to make the public aware of the use of ambulances as a safe haven for babies came after an infant's body was found in a 5,000-pound compressed bale of garbage at a Yaphank waste station last month.

"We don't know what happened there. But the goal of this awareness campaign is to prevent the loss of such innocent lives," said Timothy Jaccard, head of the AMT Children of Hope Foundation in Mineola, whose foundation will bury that baby after it is released by the Suffolk medical examiner.

Ambulances have been safe havens for years across New York, but that has not been well advertised and never before have they carried the safe haven logos, Jaccard said.

Officials said a woman about to deliver can also call an ambulance, and the foundation has an agreement with 46 hospitals in the state to pay $2,500 for the delivery of a child whom the mother wishes to give up.

In New York State, a mother can leave her newborn at locations that include police precincts, firehouses, hospitals, churches or with any responsible adult willing to accept the baby and call proper authorities.

Mangano said that safe havens have been adopted in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and 2,636 babies have been safely relinquished.

The foundation was founded in 1998 and includes members of the Nassau County Police Department, AMTs, local health care workers and civilians.

The Nassau County Police Department has installed the logos on all its ambulances, as has the North Bellmore Fire Department, the Wantagh-Levittown Ambulance Corp., Winthrop-University Hospital, Nassau University Medical Center and Life Star Ambulance Corp.