These individuals identified an at-risk Infant who was with its mother. The nurses intervened and secured the infant from the patient who was under the influence of drugs and contacted ED forensics. The nurses cared for the baby and tactfully kept the mother from grabbing the baby and leaving. At one point, the 2-week-old infant was lying on the stretcher while the mom was asleep; she had put both side rails down. The ED Staff asked if they could take the baby to the nurse's station and feed the infant due to continuous sucking motions.

The nurses involved were all fairly new to the ED. I point that out because of their excellent situational awareness and boldness; initiating that process is not a light undertaking. They did this all on their own Initiative. ED forensics intervened and contacted WV child protective services. WV CPS also worked through the difficult situation for hours and, ultimately, with no safe disposition options, decided to put the two-week-old infant in emergency foster care.

At that point, another ED Physician was asked to evaluate the infant before foster care placement. He had clinical suspicions and ordered radiology studies that revealed that the 2-week-old Infant had multiple skull fractures and other injuries. The infant was flown out to another facility for a higher level of care.

Without the team effort, this infant likely would have died or at a minimum, continued to suffer. Our alert and brave team truly saved a physical life and provided a new pathway for this human. Anyone in this chain of events could have shown reluctance, and the results would have been very devastating.

The WMC ED physician involved in the care of the infant's mother reports that before he was even informed that the patient had arrived, they had the child in their physical protection and called for support from the forensic nurse and CPS.

I think this extraordinary care needs to be acknowledged at the highest levels.