Hallo all,
I forward to you these sad news from Dr Jack Newman.
How can we help them?
Hugs
Martina Carabetta, IBCLC, LLLL
Rome (Italy)
>
> *Hello All,*
>
> ** 
>
> *Like Merril Lynch, AIG, and Lehman Brothers, we are in financial 
> trouble, though not because we invested poorly.  Government support 
> for our clinic ceased in 2005 and now our private funding is about to 
> expire.  It is possible we could woo back our private funders if we 
> had funders to match.  If you know anyone who can help, a donation can 
> be made to the Canadian Breastfeeding Foundation (registered charity) 
> and earmarked for the Newman Breastfeeding Clinic & Institute.  You 
> can donate through their website 
> http://www.canadianbreastfeedingfoundation.org/*
>
> *_ _*
>
> *See also the article and video at:*
>
> * *
>
> *http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_26992.aspx*
>
>  
>
> *For more information, see below our names.*
>
> ** 
>
> *Thank you for your support.*
>
> ** 
>
> *Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC, IBCLC and Edith Kernerman, IBCLC*
>
> ** 
>
> September 17, 2008
>
> Hi All,
>
> I would like to update everyone on the situation as it stands now for 
> the Newman Breastfeeding Clinic & Institute.  I know that many have 
>  been to our website _www.drjacknewman.com_ 
> <http://www.drjacknewman.com/> and have read our cry for help; I also 
> know that many nice and supportive stories are going around about the 
> details of our troubles, and many of these stories are not correct, 
> so, best to set the record straight to clear up any misunderstandings.
>
> First, the Newman Breastfeeding Clinic & Institute (NBCI) has had 
>  wonderful support from a private family foundation for the past 2½ 
> years.  That support was always contingent on NBCI being able to 
> secure other sources of funding to complement that of the Foundation. 
>  Since 2005 when we first starting receiving support from this very 
> generous private family foundation (after we were removed from the 
> last hospital clinic we had been in) this foundation’s funding of NBCI 
> has gone from covering 100% of our clinic practice to 48%.  Not that 
> they have decreased their  contribution amount---their contribution 
> has actually increased--it's  just that our budget has doubled.  We 
> see more patients and have more staff and see patients for longer than 
> we use to.   We have been able to augment the foundation’s 
> contribution by starting the NBCI Institute, and by selling our books, 
> DVDs,  L-Eat, GamePlan, and Decision Tree.  Furthermore, and very 
> reluctantly, Jack and I agreed to charge a small administrative fee 
> for the first 3 visits of any patient who could afford it.  This too, 
> helps to cover some of the day-to-day operating costs.  
>
> So, we have done well to make sure the foundation’s contribution did 
> not contribute more than 49% of our operating budget—however; we have 
> not been able to secure other sources of funding.   The Foundation has 
> told us they cannot give us any more funding.  We  have a meeting with 
> them next week and will present our business plan and action plan for 
> the future in the hopes of changing their minds; however, we were so 
> hoping we would have been able to go to them and say we had some other 
> funders—no such luck.  So I fear that meeting may not go as well as we 
> would like.
>
> Second, to complicate matters, the Canadian College of  Naturopathic 
> Medicine, CCNM, where we rent space and have our clinic, is bursting 
> at the seams with so many new students of their own and they have 
> needed to reclaim some of the rooms we have  been using.  And our 
> growing clinic needs all the space we currently use plus more.  So, 
> with the CCNM growing and us growing we really need to find our own 
> space.  We have a meeting with them this week—I am not sure that will 
> go the way we like and we may need to look for our own space sooner 
> than we expected.  Fingers crossed we can stay.  We have had a number 
> of other unexpected costs and challenges over the last 6 months and 
> these have all added dollar signs associated to our rent and our 
> budgetary requirements.  
>
> So, though our funding stops on September 30^th (meaning the amount we 
> have been given for this year only covers us up until September 30) 
> that does not mean we will close then.  What it means is that with 
> very careful planning over the last couple of months (as we have only 
> just received this news otherwise there would have been planning for 
> much longer!) we will be able to cover our costs for a few more months 
> only.  After that, Jack and I will have to find another way of funding 
> our clinic and that may mean doing so personally.  Obviously, not a 
> very viable or long-term option.  
>
> The Institute on the other hand, can keep going more easily, we 
> believe, as long as the CCNM continue to provide us with the classroom 
> space for the same price.  As our Institute continues to grow we hope 
> that it will be able to support our clinic.  Right now, so few people 
> know that we even have a teaching facility.  We so often get requests 
> asking for names  of places where HCPs can get both didactic and 
> hands-on training in lactation management and train to be IBCLCs. 
>  Funny to hear the surprise in their voices when they learn that we do 
> both kinds of lactation training and even have a diploma programme for 
> just that and IBCLC training is our love and specialty!
>
> For anyone who is not really aware of our clinic composition, let me 
> give a brief description.  Currently, we have 2 paediatricians (one is 
> an IBCLC and Co-director with me (Jack Newman) and the other has just 
> sat for her IBCLC exam (Muroog Al-Dabbagh).  We have Me, Edith 
> Kernerman (an IBCLC and Co-Director with Jack), and then we have 3 
> administrative staff (Eileen, who has her MSc and is dedicated only to 
> the Institute; Kerrian, who runs the office, and Trina, who helps keep 
> me sane!) and 6 Breastfeeding Support Counsellors, 3 of whom are 
> IBCLCs (Jean, our clinic manager, Marla, and Suzanne),  two of whom 
> have just sat for the exam (Shelly and Timea), and the last of whom 
> will write in July, Lynda).  Of those staff, 3 are RNs, 1 is an LLL 
> leader, and 2 are Doulas.  
>
> We have 4 clinic rooms, a staff resource room and lounge (which really 
> ends up being another clinic room during clinic hours) and a tiny 
> office for our admin staff.  We see patients 4 days/week at the 
> Toronto clinic, and 1 day a week in our Alliston Clinic.  On average 
> we see 16-20 patients/day, each staying in the clinic for at least an 
> hour and often much longer.  Each patient spends at least an hour with 
> a counsellor and has a visit with the paediatrician who also does a 
> physical of the baby.  Patients are given handouts at the end of their 
> visits, are encouraged to go to our website to watch video clips, and 
> are given a follow-up appointment as needed and as many as are needed. 
>  We take mothers and babies from anywhere in the world no matter where 
> they gave birth, no matter what baby’s age, and no matter what the 
> problem is—as long as it is related to breastfeeding.  We can take 
> care of tongue ties, abscesses, not-yet latchers, FTT, and the myriad 
> of breastfeeding-related problems that exist.  
>
> Jack and I answer tons of emails every single day and never charge for 
> that service.  We provide free prescription repeats for our patients 
> without asking them to come into the clinic, and we provide ongoing 
> support for them as long as they need us. Though we really prefer 
> patients and HCPs email us, our staff is available to answer 
> breastfeeding questions by phone during clinic hours.  We provide and 
> maintain a very busy and active website full of free information 
> including handouts and video clips available to all.  Yes, we are a 
> very busy clinic.  And yes, these services are all in jeopardy.
>
> Many helpful and concerned citizens have made wonderful suggestions to 
> us about how if we could just research some information about such and 
> such foundation or some programme and do such and such maybe we will 
> be able to find someone or some programme that may be able to offer us 
> some advice or funding.  Frankly, we don’t have time.  We are so busy 
> and working so many hours a day every day that there are no extra 
> hours to do such research.   We have been advised to hire a 
> fundraiser—the salary range quotes we are getting are in the 
> $75,000/yr and no guarantees on any money coming in for the first few 
> years.  Yes, we are told we need a fundraising feasibility study—the 
> quotes we are getting are in the $7-10,000 range for a 5-month 
> study—that doesn’t even attempt to bring money in.  And yes, we tried 
> to hire a marketing/lobbyist firm—1 quoted us $3000-4000/month with us 
> doing all the work (no time!!) and the other was $5000-6000/month with 
> them doing the work (no money!!).  
>
> So, what does this mean for the state of our clinic, our website, and 
> all our resources?  It means we need to find some funding very quickly 
> or we will have to cut back drastically, on the number of days, on 
> staff, on accessibility to our resources/services.  Because of this, 
> we have started a campaign both in our clinic and on our website and 
> soon by mail to secure funding for three things: a clinic of our own; 
> funds to maintain our staff and maybe hire some more so we can operate 
> more days/week; and funds to provide online webinars and online 
> courses.    
>
> We are hoping that some breastfeeding-friendly foundations or 
> organizations or companies or individuals will step up and offer to 
> help.  This may help to relieve the burden on our current funders and 
> they may be able to stay on.   We have been getting some smaller 
> donations from patients and others through the 
>  _www.canadianbreastfeedingfoundation.org_ 
> <http://www.canadianbreastfeedingfoundation.org/> website.  All 
> donations are given a charitable tax receipt and only 3% is taken for 
> administrative costs (by the Canada Helps online donation service). 
>  Any larger donations made by cheque directly to the Canadian 
> Breastfeeding Foundation are given in their entirety to our clinic (as 
> long as they are earmarked or directed to our clinic).  We are hoping 
> the Canadian Government and the Ontario Government will see the value 
> of our services especially our Institute and see the need and the 
> benefit to supporting the Institute in some way.  This is a long shot, 
> but a reasonable expectation for the future.  
>
> How much do we need?  We need $45,000 by December of this year.  We 
> need at least $275,000 by next autumn to run bare bones, $550,000 to 
> run properly.  We need a lot more than that if we are going to get our 
> own free-standing clinic space.
>
> We also are looking for volunteers to help with administrative 
>  functions—like filling out grant applications, doing online research 
> to find funding sources, translation services for our resources, 
> computer programming to help with our patient database, etc, etc.  If 
> you know of anyone who can help in anyway, please have them email us 
> at [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> .
>
> I hope that clarifies our situation and puts some minds at ease and 
> gets others  working.   No, we are not going to close tomorrow, or on 
> September 30^th nor the weeks or months after.  But we cannot stay 
> going like this for much longer—that is for certain.  We need help and 
> we need it fast.  
>
> Thank you for your support,
>
> Edith and Jack
>
>
>
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