Valley New Year’s babies no longer publicized

WASILLA — It’s been 10 years since the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman printed an announcement about the first baby born in the New Year, and that gap may only increase.

Just after midnight on Jan. 1, 2006, Tanner Bruce-Allen Long was born to Eagle River parents Forest and Kristie Long at what was then Valley Hospital in Palmer, making Tanner the first baby born in Mat-Su that year. A few minutes later, Jayna Rosemary Ekelmann was born at home in Palmer to John and Amy Ekelmann, with help from Mat-Su Midwifery. A photo of the smiling Long family filled about one-third of the front page of the Jan. 3, 2006 edition of the Frontiersman, with Ekelmann’s baby photo printed inside next to the rest of the Long story.

The Frontiersman hasn’t had a story about the first Mat-Su baby of the year since. Patient privacy laws, hospital officials say, are chiefly to blame.

In the Jan. 6, 2009 edition of the Frontiersman, then-managing editor T.C. Mitchell posted an editorial about the issue. Titled, “Policy change example of misplaced paranoia,” the piece took Mat-Su Regional Medical Center to task for its decision to stop providing the paper with birth announcements.

The reasons cited then still stand today, according to Mat-Su Regional Director of Marketing and Public Relations Alan Craft.

“As a child safety measure, Mat-Su Regional does not publicize the first baby of the New Year. Like many hospitals around the country, we’ve based this decision on guidance provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which has cautioned against these kinds of announcements because of the potential risk of abduction or identity theft,” Craft wrote in an email.

Craft acknowledged the many positive stories that have come with such announcements in the past, but maintained the belief that the potential costs outweigh any perceived benefits.

“The birth of a baby is a joyous event and we know there is always interest in the first baby of the New Year, but our first obligation is to the safety and privacy of our patients, which is why we have made this decision,” Craft wrote.

He said parents are free share birth announcements with the media on their own, but that the hospital refuses requests to facilitate photos or interviews with patients. He also said members of the media are not allowed in the hospital’s Family Birthing Center.

Small world no more?

Though the first baby born in years past has not always come on New Year’s Day, the chances of the child’s birthday coinciding with the holiday are increasing with the Valley’s population. Craft said more than 825 babies were delivered at Mat-Su Regional in 2015, which is about 100 more than last year.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.