As the original person who posted the question about CLE & IBCLCs, I want to thank those of you responded.  Never in a million years did I expect to stir up such a controversial can of worms!

I am very sorry to those who were offended by comments made by other postings.  Never was this my intent, and I would hope that everyone on this list would always keep in mind that all of us are here to learn from one another and provide a extremely valuable service to bf mommies everywhere.

As one without initials after my name (other than "MOM") I have always felt critiqued by a system (and not just in the medical field) that so heavily relies on what certification or degree you have.  As the Executive Director of Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies of Kern County, I truly believe that my work and life experiences far outweigh anything I learned in college.  None of my college courses taught me about customer service, project coordination, or collaboration - all necessary qualities for someone in the nonprofit field (and I suppose anyone providing a service to others!).

I am grateful to have a Board of Directors that recognized the value of my personal experiences and chose me over other applicants with advanced degrees and various certifications.  I think that I can easily say that my agency has received much more of my time, energy and expertise than anyone else would have been willing to provide.

How does this relate to this list?  Well, everyone who subscribes to LactNet, whether an IBCLC, CLE, CLC or someone like me has a passion for assisting women with breastfeeding.  I think its sad when someone is disparaged just because they are deemed to be lower on the ladder of education than you.  Lists like these were created to let everyone have an opportunity to learn, share and teach.

As a result of conversations with our local IBCLCs (who honestly thought that our CLEs volunteering on our Comfort Line should only provide 'warm fuzzies' and refer EVERYTHING else to them), we are organizing a meeting with all interested parties to review the scope of our project, what the project can provide (and cannot), and our future plans.  We've invited all of our CLE trainees/volunteers, our local BF Coalition (our 'partners/advisors' on this project) and of course HMHB Board and Staff.  At this point I want everyone involved to be 'on the same page' in regards to this three-year funded project.

What these conversations on LactNet have provided me is lots of information of what our CLEs should be able to provide to callers and the things that are probably beyond their scope and should be referred to our IBCLCs.  Fortunately for us, I truly believe that all of our CLE trainees/volunteers have a good grasp on what is beyond their scope and it's been reflected in the call documentation forms we've received so far.  I am especially fortunate to have a Staff Analyst on this project who is a high-functioning CLE (as well as a DONA Doula and Childbirth Educator) who reviews all documentation forms for issues/discrepancies/etc.  We would not be able to do this project without her.

Now that we're putting this issue 'to bed,' it's time for me to again thank everyone who posted, and say 'nighty-night!'

Amy Smith
Executive Director
Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies of Kern County

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