WCH Women’s Pavilion earns breastfeeding award
The WCH Women’s Pavilion has received recognition for lactation (breastfeeding) care. The lactation professionals of the WCH Women’s Pavilion all hold the international board-certified lactation consultant certification and provide a lactation program for families. In addition, the Women’s Pavilion lactation consultant team provided recent completed activities that help protect, promote and support breastfeeding.
“WCH is very proud of our commitment to supporting breastfeeding women for the health of our babies and our entire community,” said Shelly Huff, vice president of patient services/CNO. “Our lactation team is dedicated to providing the best possible care and resources for our families, not only during their stay in the hospital, but for as long as they need.”
IBCLCs focus on preventive care, so they are available during pregnancy to assess and provide information on how to successfully initiate breastfeeding. They continue that assistance after the baby is born by helping families overcome breastfeeding challenges, providing accurate information and continuing to support them as their baby grows. They assist families returning to work or school, help families in more unusual situations such as breastfeeding more than one baby or nursing a sick or premature infant, and help train nursing staff to manage basic breastfeeding care.
As allied healthcare professionals with the leading internationally recognized certification for professional lactation services, IBCLC professionals work in hospitals and birthing centers, clinics, public health agencies, private practice, community settings, government agencies, and in research. There are currently more than 33,400 such professionals in 125 countries and territories worldwide.
Marin Skariah, chair of the board of IBLCE, recently said, “Institutions that are awarded the IBCLC Care Award have dedicated their efforts to promote and provide a lactation program that makes expert assistance available when the breastfeeding family needs it. Through the presentation of this award, we honor the work of IBCLCs around the world as they strive to advance global public health by providing expert lactation care to families and by promoting breastfeeding care to other healthcare professionals through advocacy and training.”
In addition to finding IBCLC professionals at Women’s Pavilion at Wooster Community Hospital, families can find an IBCLC near them by visiting www.ilca.org. Follow the “Find a Lactation Consultant” link and search for an IBCLC by postal code, city and state, or country.
For more information about the IBCLC Care Award program, email IBLCE at award@iblce.org.