Hospital security wasn't foremost on the minds of first-time parents Grace and Christopher Garcia.

Instead, they concentrated on cuddling and caring for their 2-day-old son, Jacob, recently at St. Anthony Medical Center in Crown Point.

"We're already talking about having a second child," Grace Garcia laughed.

The couple said they were unaware of an infant abduction, which ended with the baby's safe return, about a month ago at a Gary hospital. And they only noticed St. Anthony's tight security after observing a flashing security light that coordinated with removal of the baby's identification bracelet.

"The ID doesn't go away until the infant is taken home," St. Anthony Birth Place Clinical Director Teresa Meece said.

Security, particularly for newborn patients, is of utmost importance at hospitals throughout Northwest Indiana, representatives said.

To protect against a baby abduction, Community Hospital in Munster, St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago and St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart have birthing units equipped with advanced security technologies, Community Healthcare System spokeswoman Mylinda Caine said.

"We also regularly practice drills to train hospital staff and continuously evaluate our systems and processes in place to protect babies and their families," Caine said.

The introduction of new security technology as well as vigilance of trained personnel seems to be working.

The Feb. 23 abduction of the 1-day-old baby from Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus in Gary by the baby's biological father is the only such reported incident at a region hospital, state records show.

Methodist staff members, who initiated the hospital's alert system for infant abduction, learned that the newborn was in his mother's room at the time of the disappearance, said Carole Biancardi, Methodist's director for corporate communications and marketing.

She said despite the hospital's electronic infant security system, the baby's security band was tampered with and found under a mattress.

Although reluctant to talk about specifics of the Methodist security system, Methodist security supervisor Chris Rogers credited the hospital's good relationship with Gary police for the quick and safe return of the infant.

Throughout the state, there were only two abductions reported from hospitals between 1983 and 2004, statistics provided by Porter Hospital in Valparaiso indicate.

Nationwide, there were 21 reported cases of infant abductions from hospitals between January 1995 and December, according to Joint Commission spokeswoman Char Hill.

The Joint Commission sets safety standards for hospitals and is responsible for accrediting the majority of hospitals throughout the nation, Hill said.

Infant abductions are taken very seriously, she said.

"The Joint Commission considers abductions a sentinel event, or cause for alarm. When a sentinel event occurs, hospitals are required to report them and they must do an internal investigation," she said.