Starting this week, maternity wards in Hartford HealthCare facilities are starting the Orange Band Program for patients who have given birth.

Patients being discharged are given orange wristbands that say "I GAVE BIRTH" on them, and being asked to wear them for at least eight weeks to alert other medical providers that they recently had a baby.

According to HHC, 12% of women will need emergency care within the first 12 weeks after giving birth, because of both physical and mental complications.

"We're making sure that all of our frontline staff in our emergency department knows exactly what this [bracelet] is, what it means, and to look for it," said Kelly Tenney, the nurse manager at St. Vincent's Medical Center Emergency Department in Bridgeport.

Doctors and nurses say this is information they need because they are not always aware that a patient just gave birth.

"They're coming in in high stress situations," said Tenney. "This might not be the first thing that they think to mention to us, so having this visual cue tips off our frontline staff right away that this is high risk, and we need to act very quickly."

Tenney says treatment plans and diagnoses will often change after knowing a patient is postpartum, so learning that quickly could be the difference between life and death.

"Anything that can help us quickly identify what the potential issues and concerns are saves time, and can therefore save lives," said Dr. Dan Gottschall, the chair of St. Vincent's OB/GYN department.

Families who recently gave birth said the program was helping put their minds at ease.

"People get those hospital bracelets for a reason and people look to take them off for a reason – and to have something that's fashionable, celebratory and also serving a purpose for your heath, I think it's a really good idea," said Max Notis, whose son is just one day old.

Hartford HealthCare is one of the very first health systems to start a program like this, and there is hope it will continue to spread both around the state and the country.