12/18/2025
WMHF leads push for Safe Haven Baby Box
by Nancy Grindstaff
Weiser Memorial Hospital has launched a year end fundraising drive to install a Safe Haven Baby Box, giving donors a chance to make a tax deductible investment in a project hospital leaders say could save the life of a newborn in crisis. The effort has already secured $9,500, including a $7,500 LOR Foundation grant awarded just a week ago and a $2,000 donation from a supporter who heard a recent presentation at 100 People Who Care. The total cost of the project is estimated at $30,000.
Supporters say the investment is modest compared to the value of even one infant’s life – and in the neighborhood of the average cost of a single childbirth in the United States.
Emergency Dept. Nurse Manager Emily MacKenzie said the idea for bringing a Safe Haven Baby Box to Weiser began with one of her employees who had seen the impact of similar installations elsewhere in Idaho.
“One of my employees is really the driving factor behind the baby box,” MacKenzie said. “She lived in southern Idaho before she moved here, and they installed a baby box there in 2024. When she moved away, she was like, why aren’t these everywhere? She started researching it, and when another box went in up north, it really resonated with her. She brought it to me and said, Hey, why don’t we do this?”
MacKenzie said the more she learned, the more convinced she became that Weiser is exactly the kind of community where a Safe Haven Baby Box could save lives.
“It saves the most vulnerable life there is,” she said. “Even if it saves one life, that’s worth it to us. And where we’re at in Weiser, we have a lot of factors that increase the likelihood of parents surrendering their babies in unsafe locations – unsafe prenatal care, substance abuse, things like that. We really want to provide for that need.”
Weiser Memorial delivers 40 to 60 babies a year, and MacKenzie said the hospital averages one unsafe baby surrender case annually. In 2023, they had a safe surrender from a mother who delivered at the hospital, but she noted, “There’s no telling how many moms deliver at home and then surrender their baby unsafely.”
Weiser Memorial’s CEO Beau McNeff said his staff had started talking about it around a month ago.
“I was very interested in the idea and excited to see what we could do,” McNeff told the Signal American. “And so I started brainstorming with them, but I realized quickly that they knew much more about it and were better suited to take the steps on where to place it, and the process.
“So I stepped back and said, ‘you all tell me where you need me and point me in the right direction, and I will do whatever I can to help get this funded and make it happen,’” he said
Many rural hospitals across the country have closed their obstetrics units in recent years, leaving families to travel hours for prenatal care and delivery. Weiser Memorial Hospital has remained a rare exception, continuing to offer full OB services and delivering dozens of babies each year. Hospital leaders say that commitment to local maternity care underscores the importance of adding a Safe Haven Baby Box – another way to protect newborns in a region where access to maternal and infant health services is increasingly fragile.
The planned Baby Box will be installed under the hospital’s covered emergency ambulance bay, accessible from outside, out of the view of cameras for anonymity.
“It’s basically a box in the wall – almost like a library drop box for returned books,” MacKenzie explained. “They open the door, put their baby in a basket, and once they shut the door, the box regulates the baby’s temperature and alerts our internal staff.”
Because the ER is staffed 24/7, someone is always available to respond.
“Once the alarm sounds, ER personnel retrieve the baby from inside the hospital,” she said. “The outside door locks automatically until staff reset it. Then our ER team provides a medical screening exam to make sure the baby is healthy and stable.”
The system also notifies the Department of Family Services, which takes custody after medical clearance and arranges foster or adoptive placement.
According to MacKenzie, the survival rate for infants placed alive in Baby Boxes nationwide is 100 percent, with an average retrieval time of four minutes.
The Safe Haven Baby Box organization also conducts community outreach once a box is installed. “They put out ads and billboards so people know it’s here,” MacKenzie said. “That outreach is included in the price.”
Weiser Memorial Hospital Foundation Executive Director Kim Burgess said the timing of the fundraising effort gives donors a meaningful opportunity to make a tax deductible contribution before the end of the year.
“As people enter the holiday season and think about year end contributions, we invite them to consider the Weiser Memorial Hospital Foundation,” Burgess said. “We’ve created an encumbered fund for the Safe Haven Baby Box, which means every dollar raised for this project will only be used for this project.”
She contrasted it with other fundraising efforts, such as the Festival of Trees, where donations can support a variety of hospital needs.
“This is a large amount of money – almost $30,000 – and we’re inviting people who feel this speaks to them or tugs on their heartstrings,” she said. “The answer is always no unless you ask, and so the invitation is there.”
Donations can be made by check to Weiser Memorial Hospital Foundation, mailed to 645 East Fifth Street, Weiser, Idaho, 83672, with ‘Safe Haven Baby Box’ written in the memo line. All contributions are tax deductible, and for more information call the Foundation office at 208-549-4412.
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