----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Holly McSpadden" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 9:34 AM
Subject: Re: LLL meetings in Hospitals


> Yay Liz!!
>
> If the listserv had a "LIKE" button, I would be mashing it now!
>
> Holly McSpadden, IBCLC
>
>
> Holly McSpadden IBCLC
> [log in to unmask]
> (912) 350-8164
>>>> Elizabeth Brooks <[log in to unmask]> 7/10/2012 7:26 AM >>>
> "Trying to get a group started at a LI hospital and bumping into legal
> concerns"
>
> Are you even kiddin' me?  What in the heck is WRONG with our world where
> mothers walk into hospitals and are routinely man-handled, intimidated and
> manipulated during labor, delivery and post-partum care, without a HINT of
> litigative ramification ... resulting in reduced BFg initation, duration
> and exclusivity rates, to say nothing of a scarred memory of birth ... and
> yet we tremble in fear at the prospect of a clutch of mothers and babies
> using a community room for a coupla hours a weeks to bond and learn?
>
> What is the great risk here?  Trip-and-fall on a Goldfish cracker?
>
> Sheesh.
>
> So:  smile, smile, smile while you walk into the trembling decision-maker,
> and bring with you the following:
>
> (1)  US Surg Genl Regina Benjamin's Call to Action to Support BF, which
> asks ALL parts of the community -- including hopsitals -- to do ALL they
> can to support BF.  Allowing for members of the neighboring community to
> gather in common space at the hospital meets a huge need.
> http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/calls/breastfeeding/calltoactiontosupportbreastfeeding.pdf
>
> (2)  Look on the hospital's web-site.  I bet dollars-to-donuts that there
> is something there proclaiming the facility's love of Good Health and 
> Happy
> Patients and Quality Care and yadda yadda yadda.  Print that part out.
>
> (3)  Get your hands ($5 bucks) on a copy of ILCA's 12-page position paper
> "Risks of Not BG" to demonstrate that BFg is critical to the health of
> mothers and babies ... and the men and women those little babies will all
> grow up to be.  I'd say this should be on every IBCLC's bookshelf.  If not
> that, print out the similarly excellent downloadable 2007 seminal work by
> Ip et al., thru AHRQ
> http://www.ahrq.gov/downloads/pub/evidence/pdf/brfout/brfout.pdf
>
> (4) Download at LEAST this one from USLCA, and look through the rest of
> their excellent advocacy materials, that discuss how IBCLCs help contain
> healthcare costs.  Yeah, yeah I know -- this is an LLL meeting -- but the
> idea is to show something with dollars and cents to decision-makers, to
> show that that BF support of ANY kind SAVES MONEY
> http://www.ilca.org/files/USLCA/Resources/Publications/Containing_Health_Care_Costs_Help_In_Plain_Sight.pdf
>
> (5)  Take a quick peek at their list of meetings for diabetes support,
> colostomy support, weight loss support, breast-and-ovarian-and-prostate
> cancer support, heart disease support, addiction support, Alzheimer's
> support -- you name it. Ask why there aren't legal concerns about THOSE
> groups gathering on site.  Act surprised and say "Why, look here!" and 
> then
> point to the cites in "Risks of Not BFg" that tie reduced life-long risks
> of many of these morbidities with support for BF early in life.
>
> (6)  Remind those myopic decision-makers that GENERATIONS of health-care
> decision-making is driven by the MOTHERS in a family.  That means:   where
> does my kid get his first stitches?  Where does my hubby get his apnea
> test?  Where does grandma go for cataract surgery?  Where does Uncle Joe
> get his cancer treatment?  What better way to expose the institution to
> YEARS of income than to be open and welcoming to young mothers and their
> children?
>
> (7)  Print out and bring the CDC Report Card, and show them New York's
> rather embarrassing placement.  Tell them the fastest cheapest and easiest
> way they can increase those 3- and 6-month BFg rates, and 3- and 6-month
> *exclusivity* rates, is by sponsoring mother-to-mother community based
> support 
> http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/pdf/2011BreastfeedingReportCard.pdf
>
> (8)  Print out a few of the "Speak Up" campaign materials written by the
> Joint Commission on the topic of breastfeeding.
> http://www.jointcommission.org/speakup_breastfeeding/.  Or maybe remind
> them that the Joint Commission is now using exclusive BFg as a core 
> measure
> of perinatal care.  Does the facility really want to be seen as doing the
> precise opposite of what the Joint Commission has declared is a vital
> *patient* right ... to speak up for and get qualified lactation care?
> Yeah, yeah I know -- this is a LLL meeting.  But what sort of message does
> it send if they kick mothers out the door after delivery with NO
> consideration of continuity of community-based care?
>
> (9)  Oh wait .... can you hear that? Isn't that the CDC telling US-based
> hospitals that as a *matter of public health* they should be supporting
> Baby Friendly Hospital Initiatives ... including Step 10 "Foster the
> establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on
> discharge from the hospital or clinic" ?
> ht<http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2011/p1013_babyfriendly_hospitals.html>
> tp://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2011/p1013_babyfriendly_hospitals.html<http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2011/p1013_babyfriendly_hospitals.html>
>
> (1o)  Remind them that the New York State Dept of Health wants them to be
> promoting and protecting BFg:
> http://www.health.ny.gov/community/pregnancy/breastfeeding/
>
> Liz Brooks JD IBCLC FILCA
> Wyndmoor, PA, USA
>
>             ***********************************************
>
> Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
> To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
> Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
> COMMANDS:
> 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: 
> set lactnet nomail
> 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
> 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
> 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet 
> welcome
>
>
>             ***********************************************
>
> Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
> To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
> Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
> COMMANDS:
> 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: 
> set lactnet nomail
> 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
> 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
> 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet 
> welcome 

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome