Dear all:


There are always conflicts of interest that need to be examined.  Sometimes the needs of nonprofits and profit-making organizations do coincide in ways that do not result in compromises to the goals of the nonprofits, but very often they do not and the nonprofits get burned. I think of La Leche League as the ultimate nonprofit that spread virally across the planet that many other international nonprofit development organizations could envy.  Some nonprofits do look more carefully into sources of funding having been burned by seemingly good partnerships that end up going awry.  It can do real damage to a nonprofit when their objectives are undermined by a bad partnership.

Right now we are in a continuing phase of government shrinkage away from the functions that governments used to provide which was balancing services.  Our INDEPENDENT research dollars have fallen as well INDEPENDENT regulatory bodies and so there will be more and more "studies" that are really marketing packages and fewer and fewer independently verified studies of products and investigations into these products should they not provide what the marketing suggests or even turn out to be harmful.  

I have always been amazed at Marsha Walker's ability to continually examine and reexamine the detailed issues surrounding the WHO code and formula.  Like the Energize Bunny she just keeps on going and going and going.

So, what is a little nonprofit supposed to do.  As President of the New York Lactation Consultant Association, I've been struggling with this very same issue.  It makes it hard to run conferences when the costs of renting space is as high as it is in Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs.  Private conference centers that seem less expensive actually double their fees because they don't tell you in advance about all the hidden fees for all the so-called helpers that don't lift a finger for you to adjust equipment or shuffle chairs.  I've been trying to educate our members about how we do NOT make money on our conferences.  Speakers need to be paid.  I've been streamlining registration by setting up an online system (which involves an upfront investment) because we were giving free attendance to the numerous "registrars" but then didn't get enough money to cover our costs because so few people were actually paying to attend. We used to have sponsors that managed to fill the gaps but now we are not having any sponsors anymore ever since the pump companies started violating the WHO Code.  

My sister actually works in the failing California school system.  She has been a teacher for over 20 years.  She is STILL not burnt out although she almost got there with a bad principal who allowed the YOUNGER teachers to give grades away to the students in the continuing education high school where she taught and allowed the YOUNGER teachers to fudge the number of hours these students spent on their credits and basically fudged all the stats to make the school look better.  Eventually that principal finally got the ax after she had driven away all the teachers who actually cared that the students learned something.  Now the new principal is driving the YOUNGER teachers (who are now OLDER teachers) nuts because she is actually making them really teach.  But the school is really doomed because all the other high schools shove the kids out of their schools to make their scores look better.  My sister and a colleague decided to leap onto a new project -- which is a combined online and hands on learning system.  I cannot tell you the transformation this has made for my sister.  She is reinvigorated and excited.  

So, following the lead of USLCA with their webinars and my sister -- I think there is much to be said for looking at how one capitalizes on the ability to have online seminars coupled with those things that cannot be taught from a distance.  Airfare and large conference spaces are expensive.  It is GREAT to attend conferences in person -- but does one really need to attend them every year?  If I had unlimited funding, I would probably go to an ILCA conference every 2-3 years, not every year and in the face of economic constraints, about every 5 years is what I feel I can afford right now.  Conferences are only one way of learning.  Quite frankly, I don't find them as effective as other modes of learning.  I find them effective for generating new ideas.  It takes a huge effort to develop a talk for a conference, and once prepared that talk is only likely to change very gradually over time.  BUT one could reach more people if more of those talks were available online.  At the same time, I feel that too much of the IBCLC education has been reduced to conference attendance.  Particularly with the relaxation of the amount of practice hours needed to sit for the exam.  I am seeing more problems arising from inexperienced lactation consultants that rushed their way through their training.  

So, I'm thinking small locally intensive workshops are the way to go.  We have an "Internship Coordinator" who started workshops for interns who want to become lactation consultants.  These are 5 hour long with a small group of about 10 participants.  As such they are more costly, but actually less costly that what you would pay a university for a similar number of hours.  I think this model would also work well for lactation consultants as well.  My first unorthodox and to be improved workshop was on how to help mothers with ergonomics.  We the lactation consultants actually did the exercises ourselves.  No more simply sitting in chairs like sponges.  

I'm also looking into seeing if there is a way to partner with the Cornell Cooperative Extension to get nutrition experts to develop specialized webinars to take lactation consultants beyond the first 3 days of a babies life and look at nutrition during pregnancy and continue nutrition during the complementary feeding phase. 

I have no idea if any of these ideas will work, but I figure its worth a try.

Best regards,

Susan E. Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC

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