 Congratulations to CHAMPS hospital Touro Infirmary in New Orleans, Louisiana, who recently earned “Gift” designation from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Bureau of Family Health! The Gift is a Louisiana-based program that provides evidence-based breastfeeding resources to hospitals and encourages the adoption of Baby-Friendly practices. To be Gift designated, a birth facility must demonstrate that it has met the criteria for the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and submit supporting documentation. Touro has met these requirements, and they are also in the Dissemination phase of the 4-D Pathway! Kim Faught, RN, BSN, Director of Women's Services shares: “The work done for the Gift designation has complemented our journey toward Baby-Friendly designation. It allowed us to approach each step in an organized and systematic manner. As the largest birthing facility in greater New Orleans and the second largest birthing facility in Louisiana, we feel it is our responsibility to provide evidence-based care to the mothers and babies that we treat. We did not view the Gift designation as a breastfeeding initiative; it is our way to improve the maternal and neonatal outcomes.” Kim, Shannon Grosch, RN, BSN, IBCLC and Tanya Robinson, RN, BSN, are the Baby-Friendly Team Leaders at Touro.  Touro Family Birthing Center Kim shares that the Baby-Friendly journey at Touro has been “both challenging and rewarding.” Their most exciting changes have been keeping babies in the mothers' rooms after labor and delivery instead of transitioning them to the newborn nursery, and supporting no separation of the mother and baby. She says the patient, staff and physician feedback about these changes has been “extremely positive.” On the other hand, the biggest challenge has been the implementation of no separation after the recovery period, particularly encouraging the pediatricians to examine the newborns in the mothers’ rooms. They are currently focused on fine-tuning this practice.  Touro Infirmary Exterior “Like the Gift designation, we view our Baby-Friendly journey as a way to improve the outcomes for the mothers and newborns in our community,” says Kim. “It is not a breastfeeding initiative. It is our way to educate families and provide evidence-based care for mothers and their newborns.” Congratulations, Touro! We are excited to be on the Baby-Friendly journey with you!  Christopher (“Chris”) Chong, Pharm.D., is a clinical integrated pharmacist at Southcentral Foundation (SCF)’s Benteh Nuutah Valley Native Primary Care Center (VNPCC) in Wasilla, Alaska. SCF jointly operates the VNPCC and the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, which is a designated CHAMPS hospital. He was nominated as CHAMPion of the Week for his expansive work as a pharmacist, and for creating a valuable resource for breastfeeding women and the professionals who serve them, titled: “Over-the-Counter (OTC) Cough and Cold Medications for Breastfeeding Women.” The resource distinguishes safe and unsafe medications, provides dosage recommendations, and includes a list of current references. Chris shares about the resource he created: “The document was created in response to several nurse case managers who verbalized that they would like to have a document that listed common OTC medications that were safe to use in breastfeeding. I thought this was a great opportunity to assist the nurse case managers as well as a great learning opportunity for myself…I hope that this resource will be utilized by providers and nurse case managers when consulting with patients (referred to as customer-owners at SCF) who are breastfeeding, and [that it will] provide evidence-based guidance to what is safe for use. Also, I hope breastfeeding mothers are reassured and comforted through the information provided through this document.” Unfortunately, Chris’ resource is not publicly available, but an excellent general resource for medications and breastfeeding is LactMed. As a clinical pharmacist at SCF, Chris is part of a primary care clinic’s integrated care team, which includes primary care providers, nurse case managers, certified medical assistants, a dietician, nurse midwifes, and administrative support. Together, they serve American Indian/Alaska Native People in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. Chris answers drug information consults from integrated care team members and customer-owners, manages anticoagulation therapies, assists integrated care team members with diabetes and asthma management, and acts as a liaison between the main dispensing pharmacy and primary care clinics. “I believe that pharmacists are one of the most versatile professions in healthcare, and our role has certainly evolved and expanded beyond dispensing to providing direct patient care,” Chris says. “I view my role…to be an active part in a customer-owner's journey in achieving wellness as well as [to] provide support for the integrated care teams. I believe that the journey to achieving wellness is built by creating and maintaining healthy relationships, and I hope that I am able to provide the best care and support to the customer-owners and integrated care teams at Southcentral Foundation through those relationships.” Chris recently received the United States Public Health Service Achievement Medal for “outstanding work in advancing quality improvement and asthma education initiatives at Southcentral Foundation” and also received the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Association Excellence in Innovation Award, which “recognizes qualified pharmacists who have improved patient care and/or advanced the pharmacy profession by making significant innovations in their practice, methods, or services” for the asthma initiative during his pharmacy residency at SCF. He has been part of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Part C Capacity Development grant, and is currently a part of the VNPCC pharmacy process improvement workgroup. Note: This post has been transferred from CHAMPSbreastfeed.org. There was originally 1 comment. You can view it in this document.  Jennifer Briggs, CLC is a Breastfeeding Peer Counselor III for the Mississippi Department of Health WIC program District IV. She is on the Baby-Friendly community advisory board at CHAMPS hospital Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle in Columbus, MS, where she recently participated in a CHAMPS site visit. Her input at that site visit was stellar! Jennifer has worked for the MS Department of Health for 2.5 years. She provides breastfeeding support and education to pregnant and nursing mothers, teaches classes, provides latch assessments, shares information about normal newborn behavior, and refers complicated breastfeeding issues to a local IBCLC. At Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle, she attends monthly advisory board meetings where she helps to educate hospital staff and medical providers on the importance of breastfeeding. She also is a La Leche League leader in Columbus and the Publicist for the North Mississippi Breastfeeding Coalition. Supervisor Jennifer Clark, BS, IBCLC shares these words about Jennifer Briggs: “Jennifer is a joy to have on staff with our program, and graciously uses her publicist/English major skills to create flyers, newsletters, and signs when needed. She shows initiative and is a team player within our district and the county Health Departments where she works, and really seeks to understand and reach out to the community she serves.” What are Jennifer’s favorite parts about her job? In her words: “I love helping mothers breastfeed their babies! Not only does breastfeeding provide the baby with perfect nutrition, it also gives the mother such confidence in her ability to care for her child. She may hesitate or have self-doubt, but after a few weeks of practice, she learns to trust her instincts and abilities. Watching this transition from eager but unsure to confident is definitely my favorite part of the job! I enjoy continuing education, too. I believe it is important to stay current on the information we share with mothers.” Jennifer’s passion for breastfeeding began when she was pregnant with her 6-year-old daughter. She now has 3 children and loves the bond she shares with each of them as a result of the time they spent breastfeeding.  CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital - New Braunfels Congratulations to CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital in New Braunfels, Texas (CSR-NB), which was recently designated Baby-Friendly! This is the 1st hospital in the CHAMPS South project to become designated. CSR-NB is now the 18th Baby-Friendly hospital in the state of Texas and the 1st anywhere in central to south Texas. CSR-NB was also one of the 1st hospitals to receive the Texas Ten Step designation (a stepping-stone to Baby-Friendly project) and the Mother-Friendly Workplace designation, and they have received the 2-year IBCLC Lactation Care Award 3 times in a row. Kudos to Lead Lactation Consultant and CHAMPS Team Lead Kathy Parkes, MSN-Ed, BSPsy, RN, IBCLC, RLC, FILCA, CHC and her dedicated staff, who have worked hard to earn the Baby-Friendly designation! Kathy shares: “Our Baby-Friendly process has been long and arduous. The work actually began about 10 years ago, slowly introducing evidence-based clinical practice such as the use of safe skin-to-skin care. The complete paradigm shift took several years, and was aided by the Step2 Education learning package we chose to use with our staff. Even though they had heard this information for years from me, when it came from their required information, staff took that Baby-Friendly ball and ran with it! One of the most exciting things for me has been the excitement I see when a staff member comes to report, with absolute glee, how the baby crawled up mom's abdomen and latched all by themselves, or that they were able to do the complete exam on the newborn on mom's abdomen, or that they suggested various changes to the physicians which were accepted! The hardest part? Physicians buying into the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) evidence, education, and practices. That has taken time, gentle encouragement, staff initiation of skills, and evidence of successful safe practice seen by the physicians themselves. Many have now become our biggest advocates for Baby-Friendly practices. “Because the teamwork involved in the BFHI process is really what made it a success, they were all able to revel in the designation. Now we're planning the biggest party EVER!! Our Marketing Department is also planning a news media blitz in the San Antonio/New Braunfels area.” CHAMPS provided CSR-NB with several mock surveys, suggested tools, and enlisted other in-hospital support people in their journey towards Baby-Friendly. “I found that having these surveys was key to our success in receiving our Baby-Friendly Designation,” says Kathy. Kathy is mentoring other hospitals in the CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Health System in their own Baby-Friendly journeys, including CHAMPS hospital Children’s Hospital of San Antonio. CHRISTUS Health also has hospitals with birthing facilities throughout Texas, Louisiana, and New Mexico, which are now all somewhere in the BFHI process. Kathy has worked to create a corporate team with staff from each of these hospitals in an effort to share experiences, policies, tools and education. |
CHEER Champion of the weekEach Monday (besides public holidays), we will recognize a CHEER Champion for all the support they have provided for CHEER, CHAMPS, or the general public. Archives
April 2021
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