When Air Force Air- man First Class Chris- tian (Chris) Lopez was deployed to the Middle East last April, his wife Amber, 18, was pregnant with their second child and due in September. On Sat- urday, Sept. 10, Chris, 20, was able to witness the birth of his son, Declan James Lopez, born at 9:27 a.m. at St. Mary Mercy’s Hospital’s Birthing Center, via Skype. “I’m extremely thrilled and happy,” he said. “The experience made it feel like a little piece of home, actually being able to see everything as it hap- pened.” Prior to the birth, the South Lyon couple fre- quently kept in touch using Skype, a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chats over the Internet. Knowing oth- er military couples had used this technology dur- ing labor and delivery, Amber approached her OB/Gyn, Tim Johnson, M.D., of Westside Obstet- rics & Gynecology, a staff physician at St. Mary Mer- cy in Livonia. “Dr. Johnson was really excited about it when we first started talk- ing about it,” explained Amber. In a collaborative effort, St. Mary Mercy physi- cians, Birthing Center and information technology staff came together for St. Mary Mercy’s first Sky- pe birth broadcast. Hav- ing a difficult delivery of their first child, 1-year- old daughter Addison, “we were determined Amber was going to have a good experience this time,” said Deborah Ainsworth, a reg- istered nurse and Birthing Center director. A webcam and laptop were set up bedside where Chris could view the action just as if he were in the room. Arriving a few days ear- ly, the 7 pound, 12 ounce, 21-inch baby boy was born on his great-grand- mother’s birthday. He was delivered by on-call OB/ Gyn Karol Otteman, D.O. “As a military family, the distance can be hard, but this experience was real- ly nice,” Amber said. “This was so much better than just being on the phone because he could actually see him live. St. Mary Mer- cy took care of everything and made it perfect.” (L) LOCAL NEWS online at hometownlife.com A6 Observer & Eccentric | Sunday, September 18, 2011 Wayne County Com- missioner Joan Geb- hardt (D-District 12) joined Chairman Gary Woronchak, County Executive Robert Fica- no and Sheriff Benny Napoleon in a ground- breaking ceremony Thursday on a $300 mil- lion state-of-the-art jail facility. The new 715,000- square-foot Wayne County Jail will be located downtown across from Frank Mur- phy Hall of Justice on property bordering Gra- tiot, St. Antoine, Clinton and the Chrysler Ser- vice Drive. It is sched- uled to open July 2014. “It is the responsibil- ity of the Wayne Coun- ty Commission under the county charter to approve contracts and ensure that the peo- ple’s best interests are in order with a project of this magnitude,” said Gebhardt, who made motions on several fronts to see the project through. “The Commis- sion has done its job and I have to feel excited about the jobs this will bring to so many hard- working families in our area.” According to Geb- hardt, the new jail will save the county money by using new technolo- gies and the latest best practices for prisoner movement and super- vision, and will also create safer environ- ments for prisoners and employees. “I say with confidence that we have done our job well, and we stand here as partners in this ambitious and outstand- ing venture for which we are breaking ground today,” Woronchak said. It is also estimated that more than 2,000 jobs will be created by the project, which is one of the largest construc- tion initiatives Wayne County has launched in several years. The facility will have 2,192 beds and house prisoners who would currently be in two downtown jails and a jail in Hamtramck. The downtown jails, built in 1929 and 1981, are expected to be demol- ished. The fate of the Hamtramck facility, in operation since 1991, remains unclear. Video visitation will be one new feature for the facility as prison- ers will now be able to meet with relatives and clergy from their cells by way of cameras and television screens. “Building a new jail isn’t cause to cele- brate,” Ficano said. “What we are saying is in these economic times, you have to look at everything in terms of improving efficien- cy and cutting costs. That’s what this project will do.” Wayne County, in an effort to stimulate local economic activity, used a consulting firm to prequalify contractors. Presently, approximate- ly 425 potential con- tractors have been pre- qualified. Of those can- didates, 60 percent are Wayne County- and City of Detroit-based. “There is no question this center is crucial to alleviating many of our fiscal issues,” Sher- iff Napoleon said. “We know that we cannot incarcerate our way out of the ills plaguing our county. However, we can take the measured steps to streamline our system so that mon- ey we have available is being used to its utmost benefit.” Amber Lopez holds baby Declan James while father Chris watches from the laptop screen. A webcam was hooked onto the baby warmer so Chris could view Declan. 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