A dedication of the
new Safe Haven infant rescue box and community blessing will be held at
10:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 16, at the Chesterton fire station, 702 Broadway.
The box is located
on the east wall of the station and will go “live” on Friday, as Town
Council Member Jim Ton, R-1st, announced at the council’s meeting Tuesday
night.
Speaking at the
event will be Ton, Fire Chief John Jarka, and Monica Kelsey of Safe Haven
Baby Boxes.
Jarka noted at the
council’s meeting Tuesday that the CFD has been testing the device for the
last seven days and that firefighters will be trained on it Thursday night.
Meanwhile,
Clerk-Treasurer Stephanie Kuziela reported the receipt of additional
donations, which will go toward the device’s monthly maintenance fees:
* Delta Theta Tau,
$200.
* Virginia Worley,
$25.
* Bob and Maria
Poparad, $500.
* Marilyn
Buczkowski, $25.
* Paul and Betty
Rausch, $20.
* Luella J. Dewulf,
$300.
* James Ton, $300.
* Dennis and Kieran
Penning, $100.
* Chesterton/Porter
Rotary Club, $1,000.
To date a total of
$7,620 has been donated to the maintenance of the box.
Anyone who wishes
to make a donation may contact Ton at jton@chestertonin.org or Jarka at
926-7162.
The infant rescue
box will work much like a depository at a bank: once it has been opened and
then closed, it cannot be re-opened until the CFD has re-set it from inside.
Boxes come equipped with three different alarms: the first is activated
automatically when the box is opened; the second, when a baby is placed on
the pad (which is either heated or cooled depending on the season); and the
third time, when--if--the person leaving the baby elects to activate it.
State law permits
the installation of a baby box at any fire station manned 24/7/365.
Ton initially
expressed interest in the installation of an infant rescue device after
afterbirth was found late last year in a chemical toilet on the Prairie
Duneland Trail, the day after an infant was left in a baby box at the
Coolspring Township fire station in LaPorte County. Under the Safe Haven
law, persons who wish to abandon newborns may do so in such devices without
legal consequence so long as the infant is unharmed and healthy.