The Cayuga Birthplace, located at Cayuga Medical Center (CMC), recently received several donations to help them continue to provide the highest level of lactation support to patients.
Donations made through Cayuga Medical Center (CMC) include donations from the Lactation Alliance for Tompkins County Health (LATCH) for one thousand dollars to purchase pasteurized donor human milk from a milk bank and one thousand dollars from the CMC Auxiliary for a hospital-grade milk warmer.
The Cayuga Medical Center Foundation donated an additional two thousand toward the education of more nurses to become Certified Lactation Counselors. All donations will help newborns born at the Cayuga Birthplace as well as infants in CMC neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
LATCH’s donation will cover the initial costs of a brand-new program at CMC, which will begin in late January.
“We are so grateful to LATCH for this generous donation, which will allow us to purchase our first orders of pasteurized human donor milk from the New York Milk Bank,” said CMC Lactation Coordinator Sharon Berger, RN, IBCLC. “This new feeding option will be offered, with a physician order, when the parents’ own milk is not available or is in low supply. This is especially important for babies who arrive early or are struggling with a medical condition but can also be useful in many other situations.” Berger is an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC).
The donated breastmilk will be provided by the New York Milk Bank (NYMB), based in Westchester County. The NYMB is just one of 32 human milk banks in the United States; donors are thoroughly screened and are not compensated for any milk they donate.
The Cayuga Medical Center Auxiliary is a volunteer-driven organization that supports the hospital by playing a crucial role in serving as a vital link between CMC and the local community.
The CMC Foundation secures, manages, and distributes gifts to CMC and its facilities. These gifts contribute to various initiatives, including facility improvements and the support of programs that benefit patients and their families.
LATCH is a community-based group of professionals and advocates with a special interest in working with infants and families to accomplish their goals around feeding.
The World Health Organization considers donor human milk to be the preferred feeding supplement in clinical situations where a parent’s own milk is unavailable or in short supply.
