Naomi, I have been working for years in Austin to get corporate lactation
programs started.  There are various models, including the M  franchaise. My
practice helped Motorola est. a program 5 yrs ago.  They have several local
facilities.  All have purchased  Lactinas for use on-site.  When they built a
new plant, they asked women employees for imput on how to design facilities
for the pump room.  One suggestion was an entry from inside the women's
bathroom so they would not be seen entering the pump room through the hall
entrance -- thus having more privacy.  The women who use the pump rooms come
to me for kits.  They use each other for support and info.  Its been my
exper. that once women have such a facility they form their own support
systems and I seldom have contact unless there is a problem with the
lactation itself.  They really take care of all the logistics of pumping ed.

Apple computer here recently opened a similar room -- very pretty.  I helped
with that too, and teach an on-site bfg class twice a year, and provide kits
on consignment.  Texas Instruments and 3-M have similar arrangements.  I have
a contract with IBM for a rather different model of support.  They will pay
for the rental of a Lactina for a full calendar year for any full-time female
employee beginning 4 wks prior to the end of maternity leave.  They prefer
not to have a pump room to maintain, and their people like having a pump they
can take home etc.  I have about 5-14 women at any given time under this plan
renting pumps.  I provide kits and an initial brief hook-it-up session,
provide milk storage info, etc.  I send IBM an invoice monthly for the pumps
that are out.  We've been doing this for 3.5 yrs. now.

The Texas Dept. of Health and some of the local hospt. are also providing
employees with on site facilities.  I helped write (wearing my LLL hat) a
brochure for the TDH and Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies which addresses the
issue of employer support for bfg mothers.  It took a long time to get the
bugs worked out of this flier, but I just saw the two documents at an HMHB
meeting last week and they look very nice.  Janet Rourke may kill me if
hundreds of people want one of these fliers.  I hope she will post (or Chan
or someone from TDH) whether others can access this publication.  I know the
plan in Tx is for a huge mailout of this flier to employers all over the
state.  Naomi, if you will send me your snail-mail address, I'll send you
one.    And I want to say a public thank you to the Texas Dept. of Health
people for all the wonderful resources they continue to develop to assist in
the social marketing of bfg.  I think Texas is way ahead of the curve on a
lot of this stuff.
Barbara Wilson-Clay, BSE, IBCLC
priv. pract. Austin