Phyllis Adamson wrote:

>We need (ILCA needs?) a good agent or PR firm to 'sell' the Board Certification
>of IBCLC, as well as the other certifications like CLC, CLE,  what they mean,
>and how a hospital or private practice can benefit from having one on staff.
>Include in that reasons why the RN degree does not guarantee up to date BF
>info/skills unless that RN has made a personal effort to update her skills &
>training.

So many hospitals are now private, for profit, organizations, that consumers
of their services can wield a lot of power.  Would it be possible for you to
organize a campaign of letter writing from your satisfied "customers" to the
hospital administrators in your area?  Pregnant women can write to say that
they are surprised and concerned to discover that the BF counselor wasn't
even board certified.  Postpartum, women can point out nicely that they wish
the BF counseling had been more thorough and professional, and that
certification would help to insure that the BF counselor is conversant with
up to date information and research on BF.  If there is someone in charge of
"quality assurance" for the hospital (which is the case for most of the
large corporations that own hospitals), this person could be sent a copy of
the letter.

A letter writing campaign where they receive a lot of letters all at once
probably wouldn't work, because it would look orchestrated.  But, if you
simply encouraged those who are truly grateful for your help to write while
the experience is fresh in their mind, over a period of a year or two it
would make quite an impression on hospital administrators.  They would start
to believe that this is a community service that the general public wants.

Good luck.
Margaret K.K. Radcliffe               [log in to unmask]
Dept. of Mining & Minerals Engr.
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA