There have been a couple recent postings on military families & military
healthcare.  There was an implication that these families don't really have a
choice other than using civilian healthcare.

I just would like to clarify this so that LC's can better empower their
military clients.  Patients within the military healthcare systems are not
without choices.    Many young or new military families may think they don't
have choices but this is generally not true.
Frequently very young military families have the misconception that because
their HCP's have a higher rank that patients don't have the right to question
things.  First, only the actual military member has any 'rank' anyway, so
military family members don't need to fear someone 'pulling rank'.  Military
hospitals are governed by the same rules as other hospitals re: patient
rights, etc.

Military patients can choose their provider.  Most military clinics/hospitals
now have Family Practice clinics, however, even if they don't, patients can
request an appointment with a specific provider, they need not accept an
appointment with a health care provider they don't care for.  Parents may
choose to take their children to either the Family Practice clinic or the
Pediatric clinic.  And the majority of military clinics have CNM's available
in their OB-Gyn clinics.  This is often a good place to get the 'lowdown' on
which providers are bf friendly, or at least open.  Granted, I am a bit
biased in the PA direction, but PA's are readily available in most military
clinics, and the PA's frequently are more preventative medicine/health
education oriented, and if they are not already bf friendly, are generally
open to learning.

Actually, over 18 years experience with military medicine, I found that
frequently military HCP's were very open to breastfeeding info.  A lot of
military HCP's are younger, like to think they are on to 'new' trends - such
as bf.

I would encourage LC's who live near military bases to reach out and get to
know at least one or two HCP's on base.  Consider sending an intro letter,
and business cards, and maybe an ILCA LC brochure to the HCP's in the Family
Practice, Pediatric, & OB clinics, and the OB Ward.  If you don't want to
find all the names, then call and get the name & clinic address of the
'Chief' of these clinics and send info to them, asking them to post it for
their staff.  You might also consider taking the time to make an appointment
with the Chiefs of OB & Peds clinic, just to introduce yourself, or offer to
do an inservice for the OB Ward staff, or donate a BF video.  Before the
clinic part of our nearby base was closed, I used to take in free brochures,
etc into the clinic, with my business card attached or stamped with my name +
phone #.  These were always welcomed.  If you are working with a military
client, with your client's permission of course, don't hesitate to call the
HCP they are working with to discuss your assessment, offer documentation,
etc.  That's one difference in military medicine & the civilian world,
Military HCP's get their patients charts reviewed on a frequent & regular
basis, and if they do something controversial, they better have
documentation.  So especially things like ductal yeast, diflucan, etc, be
sure to offer them copies of documented sources.

In Southern Calif. where it's wet & soggy today,
Kathe Catone, IBCLC, LLLL      [log in to unmask]