> Oh, please, please help me!
>
> I'm scheduled to do a bf talk for 40-50 nurse managers in a city a few
> hours away. The organizing nurse and I have talked by phone several times,
> but have never met. In the past, I've mailed her ILCA videos to show her
> nurses, and I thought we were on the same wave-length. She was to cover my
> bus fare, one motel night, handouts, and a tiny honorarium. I've done 6 or 8
> very similar talks, *always* under baby-friendly circumstances, always
> shoe-string operations, as this appeared to be. It simply never occurred to
> me to ask about funding.
>
> I just got a letter from her, enclosing the flyer for my talk and details
> about location, projector, etc. It ended with this paragraph:
>
> "You may think it unusual that a formula company is sponsoring this breast
> feeding presentation. I feel strongly that rice lyte and other M-J
> nutritionals have a real place for infants who may not tolerate any form of
> milk. Bob S., our M-J representative, is a delight and a strong supporter of
> continuing education for nurses."
>
> The flyer, of course, leaves no doubt as to the sponsor. I nearly had a
> stroke.
>
> What do I do and how do I do it? I'll foot my own bill entirely now, of
> course, including handouts. But my good friend the nurse is also providing
> handouts, and I can guess what they'll be. At *my* talk!!!
>
> I could cancel, which would certainly save me money, but would that do more
> harm than good at this point? I'm one of 2 speakers for the day.
>
> I could call the nurse and express my dismay, but that might prompt her to
> request that I avoid saying certain things. If I don't call her, at least
> I'll have free rein.
>
> Free rein to do/say what? How and to what extent can I enlighten without
> alienating? Please, please help me!
>
> Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL Ithaca, NY
> who thought, when she signed her Lactation Consultant's Declaration, that
> avoiding the formula companies was simple.
>
Diane,
I feel strongly that you should go and give your talk. And I also think you
are right that by not telling the organizer in advance of your dismay at the
sponsorship of the presentation you give yourself free rein to bring up
unethical marketing practices as part of your presentation. I think you
should make it clear, in a non-hostile but forceful way, that you support the
WHO Code and the BFHI and believe that formula company marketing should
have no place in a hospital. And I do think you should tell the assembled
nurses that you have signed a pledge not to accept money from formula companies
because you (and many other lactation consultants) consider it a conflict of
interest, and that you therefore decided to pay your own expenses in connection
with the presentation.
In sum, I think you have a fabulous opportunity here to educate these nurse
managers about insidious formula marketing practices, even if that is not "on
the program" for your presentation.
As far as how to phrase this so that is heard and absorbed ... I'm thinking.
Because I am the fly-off-the-handle type, diplomatically discussing formula
company marketing practices is not my strong suit. If I have any ideas, I'll
send them along.
J. Rachael Hamlet
Author, The Breastfeeding Advocacy Page
http://www.clark.net/pub/activist/bfpage/bfpage.html
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