Breastfeeding Coalition

Overview

The Healthy Communities Breastfeeding Coalition works to ensure every new mom has the education and resources needed to successfully breastfeed their baby.

Healthy Communities Breastfeeding Coalition 2019 Accomplishments

• The breastfeeding coalition wrote a grant to support the cost of construction related to our CRH Mothers’ Room South. The space is available for visitors and patients to comfortably feed and care for their babies. Staff will also have access to this room for pumping. Thanks to the Columbus Regional Health Foundation for the generous grant!
• We partnered with The Milk Bank and the CRH Outpatient Lab to have our first ever Milk Donor Drive. We had great volunteer coverage, had 100s of ounces of milk donated and signed up a few new moms to donate.
• The coalition supported the CRH Birthing Centers successful, “Baby Friendly re- designation.”
• The coalition raised over $2,000.00 to support a second day of Nurse n’ Chat. Nurse n’ Chat is now biweekly, which gives moms two opportunities to access consistent help from an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC).
• We donated two bags of clothing from our second annual Swap, Don’t Shop.
• We closed Fourth Street to celebrate breastfeeding families at the Live, Love, Latch. We had 18 vendors sharing breastfeeding resources, safe-sleep and insurance information, as well as other resources for families. 154 people attended our event. We worked with the City of Columbus to declare August 10, 2019 as, “Breastfeeding Awareness Day.”
• The Breastfeeding & Baby Care Station at the Bartholomew County 4-H Fair was used 127 times.
• Mom’s said, “This was a lifesaver! Rockers were extra appreciated, keep up the great work.”

• “Amazing! Such a blessing you are to this community!”
• “Thank you so much for the cool space to feed and care for my little guy. We give it 4 thumbs up! :)”
• “Love the safe and cool place to nurse my baby. The literature was an added bonus, Thanks!”
• “Amazed by the support given to breastfeeding mommas! Thank you so much!!”
•  Our Breastfeeding & Baby Care station moved onto the main strip at the 2019 Ethnic Expo. We partnered with Clarity to provide diapers and wipes for moms.
• Birdie Gunyon Meyer, RN, MA, PMH-C discussed Perinatal Depression on August 28^th at our continuing medical education program at CRH. 67 people attended, (8 MD, 59 Non MD) Birdie Gunyon Meyer received overwhelmingly positive feedback. We were able to provide continuing education for Lactation Consultants, (CERPS)
• Our Milk Donation Site received 6,489 ounces of donated breast-milk in 2019. We had 17 donors share their extra breast milk.

Nurse n’ Chat usage data 2013-2019

* Added a second weekly session on Fridays