Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett visited Fort Sanders West to promote the “Where’s Baby?” hangtag initiative. Hargett said on average a child dies every 10 days from heatstroke in vehicles. In more than half of these deaths, the caregiver forgot the child was in the vehicle.
Hargett is visiting hospital facilities across the state announcing a vehicle hangtag initiative. At Fort Sanders, he met with several Covenant Health leaders, state legislators and the media to describe the initiative and show samples of the hangtags.
Jim VanderSteeg, Covenant Health president and CEO, said the hangtag is a good reminder for new families. “At our hospitals, where more than 8,000 babies were born just last year, we care about our very youngest patients.” VanderSteeg noted that despite the uncertainty of current times, it is always important to focus on the safety of both individuals and the community.
Secretary Hargett presented a close-up view of the vehicle hangtags, which will be given to parents at birthing and children’s hospitals statewide.
Covenant Health received about 10,000 vehicle hangtags to give to new parents at its member hospitals where babies are delivered: Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center and Parkwest Medical Center in Knoxville, Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge, LeConte Medical Center in Sevierville, Morristown‐Hamblen Healthcare System and Cumberland Medical Center in Crossville. The six hospitals delivered a total of 8,074 babies in 2019.
The hangtag initiative is in collaboration with the Tennessee Hospital Association, Tennessee Department of Health’s county health departments, Tennessee Highway Patrol and birthing and children’s hospitals across the state of Tennessee.
Information for this story provided by the public relations department of Covenant Health.