Hi to all,

Has anyone had the experience of dealing with a mother in a less than ideal
pumping situation or any thoughts on the following?

I was contacted by a mother of a one month old returning back to work mid
November.  She is an RN working as an LVN at the Veteran's Hospital about 20
miles from here.  She works in the vancomycin resistance enterococci unit.
She says the people in the unit are very sick including AIDS and pneumonia.
Her uniform is completely protected including foot booties and she is always
gloved. She works an 8 hour day and a 40 hour week.  She says she is exposed
to an array of body secretions constantly.  Her husband is worried about the
safety of her pumping at work.  He is afraid that germs from her clothing
and the environment will get into the milk.  He feels it is just too dirty
there.  She agrees that the unit is very dirty.

I told her I would research this but my gut reaction is that the antibodies
in her milk will protect the baby from these diseases.  She may have to
establish some pretty strict hygienic guidelines for herself but she is
going to be exposed to this environment anyway.

Any thoughts other than finding a new job????

TIA
Joanne
Joanne Burke Snyder, MA, CLE, IBCLC
Latch-On Services, A Private Practice in Indianola, Iowa