Hi Everyone,

        I'm a new subscriber, joined about a week ago and have been lurking and
loving it!  Great information exchange!  Susan Clapp's inquiry regarding
hospital based clinics has prompted me to get active and write a response.
Thanks for the push, Susan.

        I am a Public Health Nurse, and new IBCLC ( as of the Aug.'96 exam).  Two
other PHN's ( both IBCLC's also), and I , opened a clinic at our local
hospital in May '96. We are in Orangeville, Ontario. This clinic is jointly
staffed by maternity unit nurses and ourselves.  We wanted to work together
to decrease the problem of inconsistant advice from caregivers in this
community.  The price is right also, as existing (on duty) staff from both
organizations is used to run the clinic.  We refer to our clinic as the
Community Breastfeeding Centre.  We specifically avoided the word "clinic"
due to it's medical , illness focussed slant.  Approximately three-quarters
of our clients visit for teaching, anticipatory guidance, and support with
no identified problems.  Thus, CLINIC, just doesn't fit.

        So far, our Centre seems to be well received and meeting our health
promotion mandate.  We intend to do some formal evaluation of it's impact
in 1997.  The January 1997 volume of PHERO should have an article about the
Centre (unless we have another re-write).  Hope this is helpful-Good Luck.


                                                        Paula