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Subject:
From:
Melinda Hoskins <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 1 Apr 2008 00:17:02 -0700
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Since you asked publically, I will reply to you publically. :)
   
  Aviva Institute is an ambitious project of Daphne Singingtree, a direct entry midwife who has been involved with MANA, NARM, and MEAC since their inception.  It is still a young institution, working on meeting all appropriate accreditation standards that are applicable to the programs that are offered, and is seeking to develop maternal newborn health programs of the highest caliber. The accreditation process requires several years in most cases, so there is always a period of watchful waiting, just as in many births.
   
  Daphne contacted me last summer to help her design some lactation courses for Aviva. We have attempted to do our research in order to have appropriate content and sequencing of courses.  The first course that is being offered is a course that is designed to meet the Baby Friendly 18 hour course, which has apparently recently be upgraded to a 20 hour course for all staff of Baby Friendly institutions.  The next course will meet the UNICEF BFHI requirements for the 45 hour courses.  The IBCLC prep courses are still in the planning stage and it is Daphne's intention to eventually have a Bachelor's degree in Lactation.
   
  About me:  I have a MSN in maternal child health conferred in 1980 from Loma Linda University with an emphasis in both consumer and professional education. My thesis research dealt with telephone support of first time breastfeeding mothers, with data collected between 1978-79 in San Bernardino County, CA.  I taught nursing for Loma Linda for a couple of years while my husband was in medical school.  My nursing career has included NICU, labor and delivery, mother-baby float pool, and working with community based programs, plus over 12 years now of nursing education in all levels, PN, ADN, BSN and graduate. While working in all of these areas, I have attempted to bring breastfeeding support to the forefront, and am frequently acused of being able to turn any conversation around to either or both breastfeeding and midwifery and birth in less than three sentences. :)
   
  I have borne and raised three daughters who breastfed for 2.5- 3 years each, meaning that I was either pregnant and/or nursing for more than 9 years.  I at one point in time was working on qualifying for LLLI leadership, but when we moved to an area that was more than 100 miles from the nearest leader and the applicant support people wanted me to come to meetings on a monthly basis with two children and a third on the way, I dropped out of that process.  I did continue to offer breastfeeding support to my husband's patients in that remote Nevada community for the three years that we were living there, and for the next six years in our new community. In 1993 I returned to teaching maternal child nursing for the local community college, when all three of my daughters were in elementary school.  
   
  In 1998 I was pleased to begin working with a newborn support program, doing home visitation and was able to implement steps to increase community breastfeeding support. Unfortunately the home visitation program was cut from the state funding in 1999.
   
  In 1998 I was privileged to enjoy taking Jan Riordan's online course in Breastfeeding and Human Lactation through Witchita State.  She introduced me to the wonderful world of Lactnet and I have been a mostly lurking subscriber ever since. I wrote the IBLCE exam in 1999 and have maintained my certification since that time. In the fall of 1999 I began the process of pursuing a lifelong dream when I enrolled in the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing in pursuit of a post-master's certificate in nurse-midwifery.  There were some financial strains along the way, so that process included a one year leave of absence and then part-time status. I completed that program in the spring of 2004, wrote the certification exam and found myself without any work prospects in my home community due to a number of issues, not the least of which is physician prejudice against working with nurse midwives.
   
  I was fortunate enough to be offered an opportunity to do a "birthcenter midwifery fellowship" for one year with Women's Health and Birth Center in Santa Rosa, California, one of the nation's first free-standing birth centers to be designated Baby Friendly. One of the reasons was that I was already IBCLC and could be supportive of their programs, which include a two or more times per year offering of the BFHI 18-hour course so that all of their staff are qualified under the BFHI.  The courses there are open to the public and utilized by a number of different WIC programs to enhance the educational status of their intake workers.
   
  After my year of working at the WHBC, my husband and I grew tired of the long separations, (I was only home one week-end a month, and he came to visit one week-end a month) I returned to Nevada.  Still unable to convince any OB doctors to act as a collaborating physician so that I could open a midwifery practice, I have been teaching at the Orvis School of Nursing, University of Nevada, Reno since August 2005.  I serve on the Nevada Breastfeeding Task Force and was pleased to be a sponsored delegate to the USBC Conference of State Breastfeeding Coalitions in January.
   
  With Women's Health and Birth Center, I have sponsored and taught the 18 hour course in Reno Nevada last summer, which was well-attended. The 18 hour course does not carry a certification as there is no standardized testing and no independent certifying body.  We have always explained that to all of our students and will continue to do so in the future. I continue to still work with some of the women who completed that class, in developing a more breastfeeding friendly culture in the NICU's and labor and delivery units of the hospitals in Northern Nevada. I actively encourage anyone interested to consider further education and appropriate clinical skills acquisition in order to strive for the IBCLC.  I believe there is room for recognition of nurses and others who work with mothers for a lesser level of qualification than the IBCLC. I am open to exploring various ways of helping nurses to become more in tune with the needs of mothers and babies.
   
  Daphne and I have looked at various options for Aviva's courses and with the announcement of the workstudy based credentialling of the CLC through the Academy of Lactation Policy and Practice (see their website at http://www.talpp.org/index.cfm) we have agreed to seek qualification for any student who attends the Aviva course for Lactation Counselor to take that certifying examination.  The goal is to standardize the education process and to hope that all those giving breastfeeding information in hospitals, birth centers and community clinics will be giving the same general information. That standard is congruent with the UNICEF BFHI 45 hour course and that is the blueprint that is being followed in the development of this course.
   
  This is long winded, but it seems that there were those who wanted to know what was up with Aviva.  That is the story.  We have no intention of starting yet another non-standardized, class of breastfeeding "guru" out to serve any purpose other than giving BFHI type of information using the best of resources and current information.
   
  ILEAC requires that courses be offered at least one time and the program must be in existence for at least one year to be able to apply for accreditation. We will seek accreditation as soon as the program is eligible.
   
  I have approached some individuals about participating in developing this program, and would be delighted to have additional individuals who might serve as "guest lecturers" through podcasts that could be added to the courses.
   
  I would gladly entertain questions addressed to me at my Aviva email address, as this account is one that I use primarily for Lactnet and a couple of other high volume lists that I don't get to participate in on a regular basis due to other responsibilities at UNR and Aviva, and for the Maternal Child Health Coalition of Northern Nevada and the Nevada Breastfeeding Task Force.
  
Melinda Hoskins, MS, RN, APRN, CNM, IBCLC
  mailto: [log in to unmask]
  

R M WAHL <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
  Hello All, I just recieved an email from the Aviva Institute anouncing a Lactation educator and an Lactation Counselor which are offered on line. The instructor is Melinda Hoskins. The other classes are related to birthing. http://avivainstitute.org/breastfeeding.htm Is anyone knowledgeable about the lactation classes, the instructor or the school? You may post me privately. Sincerely, Rachel Wahl RN IBCLC 
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