Hallo all,
I forward to you these sad news from Dr Jack Newman.
How can we help them?
Hugs
Martina Carabetta, IBCLC, LLLL
Rome (Italy)
>
> *Hello All,*
>
> **
>
> *Like Merril Lynch, AIG, and Lehman Brothers, we are in financial
> trouble, though not because we invested poorly. Government support
> for our clinic ceased in 2005 and now our private funding is about to
> expire. It is possible we could woo back our private funders if we
> had funders to match. If you know anyone who can help, a donation can
> be made to the Canadian Breastfeeding Foundation (registered charity)
> and earmarked for the Newman Breastfeeding Clinic & Institute. You
> can donate through their website
> http://www.canadianbreastfeedingfoundation.org/*
>
> *_ _*
>
> *See also the article and video at:*
>
> * *
>
> *http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_26992.aspx*
>
>
>
> *For more information, see below our names.*
>
> **
>
> *Thank you for your support.*
>
> **
>
> *Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC, IBCLC and Edith Kernerman, IBCLC*
>
> **
>
> September 17, 2008
>
> Hi All,
>
> I would like to update everyone on the situation as it stands now for
> the Newman Breastfeeding Clinic & Institute. I know that many have
> been to our website _www.drjacknewman.com_
> <http://www.drjacknewman.com/> and have read our cry for help; I also
> know that many nice and supportive stories are going around about the
> details of our troubles, and many of these stories are not correct,
> so, best to set the record straight to clear up any misunderstandings.
>
> First, the Newman Breastfeeding Clinic & Institute (NBCI) has had
> wonderful support from a private family foundation for the past 2½
> years. That support was always contingent on NBCI being able to
> secure other sources of funding to complement that of the Foundation.
> Since 2005 when we first starting receiving support from this very
> generous private family foundation (after we were removed from the
> last hospital clinic we had been in) this foundation’s funding of NBCI
> has gone from covering 100% of our clinic practice to 48%. Not that
> they have decreased their contribution amount---their contribution
> has actually increased--it's just that our budget has doubled. We
> see more patients and have more staff and see patients for longer than
> we use to. We have been able to augment the foundation’s
> contribution by starting the NBCI Institute, and by selling our books,
> DVDs, L-Eat, GamePlan, and Decision Tree. Furthermore, and very
> reluctantly, Jack and I agreed to charge a small administrative fee
> for the first 3 visits of any patient who could afford it. This too,
> helps to cover some of the day-to-day operating costs.
>
> So, we have done well to make sure the foundation’s contribution did
> not contribute more than 49% of our operating budget—however; we have
> not been able to secure other sources of funding. The Foundation has
> told us they cannot give us any more funding. We have a meeting with
> them next week and will present our business plan and action plan for
> the future in the hopes of changing their minds; however, we were so
> hoping we would have been able to go to them and say we had some other
> funders—no such luck. So I fear that meeting may not go as well as we
> would like.
>
> Second, to complicate matters, the Canadian College of Naturopathic
> Medicine, CCNM, where we rent space and have our clinic, is bursting
> at the seams with so many new students of their own and they have
> needed to reclaim some of the rooms we have been using. And our
> growing clinic needs all the space we currently use plus more. So,
> with the CCNM growing and us growing we really need to find our own
> space. We have a meeting with them this week—I am not sure that will
> go the way we like and we may need to look for our own space sooner
> than we expected. Fingers crossed we can stay. We have had a number
> of other unexpected costs and challenges over the last 6 months and
> these have all added dollar signs associated to our rent and our
> budgetary requirements.
>
> So, though our funding stops on September 30^th (meaning the amount we
> have been given for this year only covers us up until September 30)
> that does not mean we will close then. What it means is that with
> very careful planning over the last couple of months (as we have only
> just received this news otherwise there would have been planning for
> much longer!) we will be able to cover our costs for a few more months
> only. After that, Jack and I will have to find another way of funding
> our clinic and that may mean doing so personally. Obviously, not a
> very viable or long-term option.
>
> The Institute on the other hand, can keep going more easily, we
> believe, as long as the CCNM continue to provide us with the classroom
> space for the same price. As our Institute continues to grow we hope
> that it will be able to support our clinic. Right now, so few people
> know that we even have a teaching facility. We so often get requests
> asking for names of places where HCPs can get both didactic and
> hands-on training in lactation management and train to be IBCLCs.
> Funny to hear the surprise in their voices when they learn that we do
> both kinds of lactation training and even have a diploma programme for
> just that and IBCLC training is our love and specialty!
>
> For anyone who is not really aware of our clinic composition, let me
> give a brief description. Currently, we have 2 paediatricians (one is
> an IBCLC and Co-director with me (Jack Newman) and the other has just
> sat for her IBCLC exam (Muroog Al-Dabbagh). We have Me, Edith
> Kernerman (an IBCLC and Co-Director with Jack), and then we have 3
> administrative staff (Eileen, who has her MSc and is dedicated only to
> the Institute; Kerrian, who runs the office, and Trina, who helps keep
> me sane!) and 6 Breastfeeding Support Counsellors, 3 of whom are
> IBCLCs (Jean, our clinic manager, Marla, and Suzanne), two of whom
> have just sat for the exam (Shelly and Timea), and the last of whom
> will write in July, Lynda). Of those staff, 3 are RNs, 1 is an LLL
> leader, and 2 are Doulas.
>
> We have 4 clinic rooms, a staff resource room and lounge (which really
> ends up being another clinic room during clinic hours) and a tiny
> office for our admin staff. We see patients 4 days/week at the
> Toronto clinic, and 1 day a week in our Alliston Clinic. On average
> we see 16-20 patients/day, each staying in the clinic for at least an
> hour and often much longer. Each patient spends at least an hour with
> a counsellor and has a visit with the paediatrician who also does a
> physical of the baby. Patients are given handouts at the end of their
> visits, are encouraged to go to our website to watch video clips, and
> are given a follow-up appointment as needed and as many as are needed.
> We take mothers and babies from anywhere in the world no matter where
> they gave birth, no matter what baby’s age, and no matter what the
> problem is—as long as it is related to breastfeeding. We can take
> care of tongue ties, abscesses, not-yet latchers, FTT, and the myriad
> of breastfeeding-related problems that exist.
>
> Jack and I answer tons of emails every single day and never charge for
> that service. We provide free prescription repeats for our patients
> without asking them to come into the clinic, and we provide ongoing
> support for them as long as they need us. Though we really prefer
> patients and HCPs email us, our staff is available to answer
> breastfeeding questions by phone during clinic hours. We provide and
> maintain a very busy and active website full of free information
> including handouts and video clips available to all. Yes, we are a
> very busy clinic. And yes, these services are all in jeopardy.
>
> Many helpful and concerned citizens have made wonderful suggestions to
> us about how if we could just research some information about such and
> such foundation or some programme and do such and such maybe we will
> be able to find someone or some programme that may be able to offer us
> some advice or funding. Frankly, we don’t have time. We are so busy
> and working so many hours a day every day that there are no extra
> hours to do such research. We have been advised to hire a
> fundraiser—the salary range quotes we are getting are in the
> $75,000/yr and no guarantees on any money coming in for the first few
> years. Yes, we are told we need a fundraising feasibility study—the
> quotes we are getting are in the $7-10,000 range for a 5-month
> study—that doesn’t even attempt to bring money in. And yes, we tried
> to hire a marketing/lobbyist firm—1 quoted us $3000-4000/month with us
> doing all the work (no time!!) and the other was $5000-6000/month with
> them doing the work (no money!!).
>
> So, what does this mean for the state of our clinic, our website, and
> all our resources? It means we need to find some funding very quickly
> or we will have to cut back drastically, on the number of days, on
> staff, on accessibility to our resources/services. Because of this,
> we have started a campaign both in our clinic and on our website and
> soon by mail to secure funding for three things: a clinic of our own;
> funds to maintain our staff and maybe hire some more so we can operate
> more days/week; and funds to provide online webinars and online
> courses.
>
> We are hoping that some breastfeeding-friendly foundations or
> organizations or companies or individuals will step up and offer to
> help. This may help to relieve the burden on our current funders and
> they may be able to stay on. We have been getting some smaller
> donations from patients and others through the
> _www.canadianbreastfeedingfoundation.org_
> <http://www.canadianbreastfeedingfoundation.org/> website. All
> donations are given a charitable tax receipt and only 3% is taken for
> administrative costs (by the Canada Helps online donation service).
> Any larger donations made by cheque directly to the Canadian
> Breastfeeding Foundation are given in their entirety to our clinic (as
> long as they are earmarked or directed to our clinic). We are hoping
> the Canadian Government and the Ontario Government will see the value
> of our services especially our Institute and see the need and the
> benefit to supporting the Institute in some way. This is a long shot,
> but a reasonable expectation for the future.
>
> How much do we need? We need $45,000 by December of this year. We
> need at least $275,000 by next autumn to run bare bones, $550,000 to
> run properly. We need a lot more than that if we are going to get our
> own free-standing clinic space.
>
> We also are looking for volunteers to help with administrative
> functions—like filling out grant applications, doing online research
> to find funding sources, translation services for our resources,
> computer programming to help with our patient database, etc, etc. If
> you know of anyone who can help in anyway, please have them email us
> at [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> .
>
> I hope that clarifies our situation and puts some minds at ease and
> gets others working. No, we are not going to close tomorrow, or on
> September 30^th nor the weeks or months after. But we cannot stay
> going like this for much longer—that is for certain. We need help and
> we need it fast.
>
> Thank you for your support,
>
> Edith and Jack
>
>
>
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