Libby,
I'd love to help you try and figure out what the deal was here. I've been an
active donor, volunteer, and fundraiser for the HMBANA milk bank here in
Central Ohio since they opened two years ago.
As I can best understand it, the issue was likely NOT that the mother spoke
Spanish, but that the staff did not have a Spanish speaking staffer to do
direct translation. The HMBANA milk banks are required to be amazingly
strict in their qualifications for becoming a donor. The health screening
and background questions are extensive and exhaustive. (For example, if you
even just visited, let alone lived the UK during the years when Mad Cow was
rampant you can't donate)
My guess is that because they must be so strict in their pre-screening, that
particular bank did not feel comfortable getting the information
"second-hand" from a translator that they were not familiar with. After all,
a misunderstood question or answer could have ended up passing through a
donor that the bank really couldn't accept. (Thus the fact that it's not
Spanish speaking moms, but simply non-English speaking moms.)
Now obviously all of the milk banks are going to interpret that in different
ways and have different levels of comfort.which may be why you were able to
find a bank that would accept the milk. Were both of the banks that you
spoke with non-profit HMBANA banks? Or was one "The National Milk Bank"
which is the non-profit arm of Prolacta, the pharmaceutical company that is
running a milk bank for profit. Did the second bank have a Spanish-speaking
staff member?
Again, would love to try and help you straighten this out if you feel
comfortable sharing more information (on or off-list).
Warmly,
Jennifer Laycock
Sunbury, Ohio
--
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 22:03:47 -0600
From: Libby Rosen <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Milk Bank issue
I am confused and need my fellow lactation consultants to help me =
understand the reasoning that would be behind not accepting milk from a
Spanish speaking mother. We called the milk bank for our area to offer to
send = the milk from a mother whose 24 week baby died. The mother had been
pumping = for one month and had lots of milk stored. She was not on any
medications = and had no history of any diseases that would prevent the use
of the milk. = When we called at first the person who answered the phone
was very excited = and encouraging, then when they asked to speak to the
mother we said that = she would prefer to speak in Spanish as her English
was limited and that we = had a medical interpretor with her. They said it
didn't matter if we had an interpretor, it had to be a member of their
staff. They said "oh no, we can't take milk from a Spanish speaking woman,
she has to speak English" = and then added, as we expressed shock and
dismay, "if it makes you feel any better, we don't take milk from anyone who
doesn't speak English, not = just Spanish." We were shocked and after
calling around were able to find a = milk bank that would accept the milk
even though we were out of their area. = I have to say this kind of
discrimination amazed me and saddened me, as = this poor mother already had
enough to deal with without her milk being = rejected based on her inability
to speak English.=20
Libby Rosen, RN, IBCLC
Topeka, Kansas=20
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