Media Contact: Anita Roark
310-423-4039
[email protected]
LOS ANGELES (May 12, 2000) -- New moms and dads at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center can now personally introduce their new baby from the maternity unit -- just hours after birth -- to loved ones around the world, with the help of BabyPressConference.com. Cedars-Sinai is the first hospital in Los Angeles, and one of the first nationwide, to offer BabyPressConference.com to maternity patients. The service launched on Mother's Day.
According to Terrence B. Akin, Vice President for Women and Children's Services at Cedars-Sinai, "This unique new service functions much like a highly sophisticated Internet 'chatroom,' but one with video and audio capabilities. Instead of waiting several days for photos to be mailed, it enables friends and family members worldwide to see and hear their newest family member immediately via the Internet."
Free to parents and easy to use, BabyPressConference.com uses the latest streaming audio and video technology, enabling viewers to see and hear both the parents and their newborn in a private, live-action "netcast" from a special room in the Medical Center. Currently, netcast invitees communicate with the parents and the newborn by typing questions, then hearing and watching the responses in full-motion video on their computer monitors. BabyPressConference.com anticipates having two-way audio and video capabilities in the near future, according to Lee Perlman, President and CEO of BabyPressConference.com.
"We're pleased to provide such a unique and valuable service to new parents," said Lawrence D. Platt, M.D., Chairman, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cedars-Sinai. "Years ago, when new mothers had longer post-birth hospital stays, family and friends had greater opportunity to visit in those exciting days just after the birth. Today, new parents can recapture those moments. BabyPressConference.com makes it possible for those who can't make it to the hospital to share in the excitement of welcoming a new baby into the world."
When expectant parents register to participate on the BabyPressConference.com Web site, they are asked to put together a guest email list and to create their own private family Web page. After the baby is born, the parents schedule time for their netcast in Cedars-Sinai's Internet Broadcast Center. Invited participants receive a password for participation and free downloadable software from BabyPressConference.com.
In addition to the netcast, family and friends can purchase a gift for the parents and newborn through the BabyPressConference.com online store, which offers gift items such as flowers, balloons, and teddy bears. BabyPressConference.com also provides prenatal, postnatal, and childcare information from highly regarded health and parenting sources.
"Cedars-Sinai is committed to making a mother's stay as enjoyable as possible," said Akin. "A new and exciting way to do that is through BabyPressConference.com, which allows parents to show off their new baby to relatives in other states, friends overseas, and co-workers back at the office."
BabyPressConference.com is a unique hospital maternity service that uses the latest streaming audio and video technology to broadcast parents and their newborn--in full-motion video--over the Internet directly from the hospital to family and friends around the world. Gifts may be purchased through the BabyPressConference.com online store, and prenatal, postnatal, and childcare information is available from highly regarded health and parenting sources.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is one of the largest and finest non-profit hospitals in the Western United States. For the fifth straight two-year period, Cedars-Sinai has been named Southern California's gold standard in healthcare in an independent survey. Cedars-Sinai is internationally renowned for its diagnostic and treatment capabilities and its broad spectrum of programs and services, as well as breakthrough biomedical research and superlative medical education. The medical center ranks among the top 12 non-university hospitals in the nation for its research activities.
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