Dear all:

I'm a firm believer in letting parents know about the differences between credentials. I think the answer is sending parents to places where they can easily check themselves. Its pretty easy to get into the IBLCE website and check to see if someone really is certified.  So, I have actually put that link to good use.

When I was arm twisted into becoming the President of the New York Lactation Consultant Association, my predecessor had started the ball rolling on doing more than just the conferences and workshops that the organization had been so excellent in organizing.  She took on the important task of updating the website and creating a logo.  She had also tried to clear out the dead wood (those who hadn't been members for YEARS) from the referral list on the website.  Unfortunately, maintaining databases is complicated business and I've discovered how challenging web development is when I followed her first footsteps into the web.  There was a huge roadblock between web maintenance person and the web developers and changes to the website were a painful process.  I found often took up to three weeks to get an event posted without typos.  I gave up on style. 

One problem was that we had criteria for a referral list of IBCLCs that had not been followed.  My predecessor and others on the board did a great amount of work to fix the list, but the list wasn't changed due to the roadblock between the web maintenance person and the web developers. 

Another problem that was voiced among our members was confusion over the CLC and the IBCLC among their clients.  It is unclear whether or not this was due to the practitioners or the parents misinterpretations.  But there was a feeling among some of the IBCLCs that CLC interns were not being sufficiently clear to their clients about the difference between the two credentials. 

There is that commercial where various small business owners complain about how hard it was to put up a website.  I keep seeing this commercial as I worked with the web designers to plan the upgrade.  It really took a whole year.  However, the long development time definitely ended up being worth it. 

NYLCA now has a SELF-EDITING website.  I cannot tell you what joy this brings when someone sends me an email to say that one of their credentials was forgotten or their group is really on Tuesday and I can FIX IT in two seconds.  Within seconds of putting up the new website and playing with it, it became clear that the roadblock (web maintenance) had been eliminated entirely.  

On the website, we have links to information about some of the various credentials in lactation and other related areas of health care and we have also been very specific about the criteria for the referral list.  I personally checked the certification status of every single lactation consultant on our list.  We've tried to make it clear that if anyone misrepresents their credentials, we will remove you from our referral list.  So I'm hoping that with this list, NYLCA will have more traffic, which will generate more awareness among parents that there is a place they can go where they can have an understanding of the credentials involved and know that someone is checking on those credentials.  I also used a link to the USLCA website which has the "Who's Who in Lactation" brochure. I think the comparison chart is helpful.  With the chart you can readily see the amount of training, without engaging in any disparagement of the other credentials.  

Best, Susan Burger
 

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