Wife and newborn daughter at St. Anthony visit serviceman in Iraq visits via satellite TV

WARWICK - On Tuesday April 1, Kari Tracy gave birth to her first baby, a daughter Ella Rayne, a full month early at St. Anthony Community Hospital’s Kennedy Birthing Center. Tracy’s childhood sweetheart and husband, Staff Sgt. Jonathan Tracy, missed the important event because he is currently serving his third tour in Iraq. But prompted by a conversation with her grandmother, Kari Tracy learned about a non-profit organization, Freedom Calls Foundation, which could arrange for her husband to meet his new daughter free of charge via satellite TV. She mentioned it to the Kennedy Birthing Center nursing staff and after numerous phone calls, St. Anthony Community Hospital and Freedom Calls made that possible. The hospital already had the required video-conferencing capability along with proper software but called Communications IT staff from across its national system to work with Freedom Calls IT staff to insure the transmission would take place at the appointed time. The hospital now plans to continue offering this service in cooperation with Freedom Calls. At exactly 10 a.m. on Friday morning, April 4, Eugene Nasuti, a Bon Secours Charity Health System telecom technician, placed a call to the Freedom Calls technician waiting in Iraq. Within moments, Sgt. Tracy, watching a TV screen from a base in Baghdad, appeared on the hospital’s TV screen. “She’s the most beautiful baby in the world,” he remarked during the real-time visit with his wife and daughter along with other members of their family who had been invited to the hospital. “Ella is the softest thing I’ve ever touched,” said Kari Tracy, a resident of Greenville as she sat with her father and mother and her mother-in-law. Freedom Calls Foundation is a type B not-for-profit incorporated in New York. And working closely with corporate contributors, individuals and the military, the foundation has deployed wireless telephone and video-conferencing services at a military base located in Baghdad. The foundation’s network offers service men and women an opportunity to participate in milestone family events such as births, birthdays, weddings and school graduations. For additional information, visit www.freedomcalls.org The national award-winning Kennedy Birthing Center is a state-of-the-art maternity unit, providing many innovative options and amenities. Approximately 600 babies are born each year at the facility, which combines modern technology with a comfortable, family oriented atmosphere.