Dear friends and fellow lactnuts,

Remember a while ago when I wrote to you for moral support at the
decrease in my working hours from 20/week to 10/week?  Your letters were
a great help to me personally, although the administration did not
increase my hours because the census has dropped considerably.
Anyway.....

Yesterday, the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Hospitals and
Health Care Organizations (JCAHCO) {this is an accredition organization
in the US} visited our fair hospital.  I was invited to participate in
the group interview with the nurse inspector. I will spare you the
details, but she was very obviously surprised that a hospital with even
our delivery rate (approximately 900/year) had only 10 hours of an LC.
She stated so in no uncertain terms. When someone else mentioned that
another member of our staff had been to a 7 day course on breastfeeding
education and would see moms when I was not there, she said,"But is that
person board certified?"  I could have fallen out of my chair!  She went
on to extol the virtues of an IBCLC certification and educated all the
people in the room that, "this certification is no small matter, it is a
real feather in your cap to have an IBCLC on staff."  So,  fellow LCs,
we are being recognized by the powers that be in US healthcare anyway.
I was very peasantly surprised and the administrator who had cut my
hours got stiffer and stiffer as the inspector went on and on about
LCs.  It was worth every minute of it!

As my 16 year old son says, "Rock on IBCLCs!"
Feeling very smug and very cold in suburban Philadelphia where it is
very icy,
Mary Alice Tinari, MSN, IBCLC
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