Mary is concerned about a 10,000-year-a-birth facility that contemplates
cutting IBCLC services, as administrators perceive lactation services as
costly "extras".
Your concerns aren't a rant. They aren't even a vent. They are an
articulate reflection of the very real concerns that IBCLCs have, to hold
onto their jobs in a tough economy in a culture that perceives
bottle-feeding rather than breastfeeding BF as "normal."
IBCLCs do not need to be lactivists, or to have "clout", to be advocates.
All it takes is some energy and commitment to at least make a stab at
telling administrators how wrong that thinking is. Will you "win?" Maybe
not. But remaining silent will surely not change the mind-set at the
institution, either.
The GOOD news is you do NOT have to go and "think up" any of the advocacy
materials to share with decision-makers. Much of it has already been done,
and nearly all of it is free. Thus, I suggest:
(1) Run, do not walk, to the USLCA website, to download and read ALL
the incredible IBCLC advocacy materials that are there all day,
everyday. There are swanky-looking, FREE, evidence-based hand-outs
about hospital
staffing, the IBCLC credential, etc. The website is newly-redesigned
and quite elegant. Go to
http://www.ilca.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=4030
(2) Run, do not walk, to the U.S. Surgeon General's Call to Action to
download and read the FREE evidence-based report by the nation's most
important public health official on the importance of having
*everyone* support
breastfeeding mothers .... starting with the facilities where they
birth.http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/breastfeeding/calltoactiontosupportbreastfeeding.pdf
(3) Run, do not walk, to the ILCA website to download the FREE
Position Paper on the Role and Impact of the IBCLC:
http://www.ilca.org/files/resources/ilca_publications/Role%20%20Impact%20of%20the%20IBCLC-webFINAL_08-15-11.pdf
(4) Run, do not walk, to teh FREE "Speak Up" campaign materials
written by the Joint Commission on the topic of breastfeeding.
http://www.jointcommission.org/speakup_breastfeeding/. Does your
facility really want to be seen as doing the precise opposite of what
the Joint Commission -- ahem, that would be THE JOINT COMMISSION, has
declared is a vital patient right ... to speak up for and get
qualified lactation care?
(5) Run, to not walk, to the Centers for Disease Control website, to
review their FREE materials on the nationwide effort for hospitals to
attain Baby-Friendly status, in order to meet national public health
ojectives. http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2011/p1013_babyfriendly_hospitals.html.
Does your facility really want to be seen as doing the precise
opposite of what the CDC, ahem, **THE CDC** has declared is critical
to providing healthcare that improves public health?
(6) For a quick-and-easy evidence-based document (8 pages text; 4
pages citations), shell out about five and buy The Risks of Not
Breastfeeding, from ILCA:
http://www.ilca.org/i4a/ams/amsstore/category.cfm?category_id=9
(7) For a huge evidence-based document on maternal and child health
outcomes of breastfeeding, download the FREE 415-page "mother of them
all" by Ip, et al. and ARHQ "Breastfeeding and Maternal and Infant
Health
Outcomes in Developed Countries":
http://www.ahrq.gov/downloads/pub/evidence/pdf/brfout/brfout.pdf
(8) Report back to Lactnet on how things went ... to energize,
empower and embolden other IBCLCs facing the same crisis
--
Liz Brooks JD IBCLC FILCA
Wyndmoor, PA, USA
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