| USLCA BOD NEWS
As Glenda points out, January is a time of planning for the year ahead. To that end, various BOD members are seeking input and suggestions for ways to help you do your job as lactation consultants–and strengthen the profession along the way. How can you help? We're glad you asked!
Membership!
Our strength is in numbers. The more members we have, the stronger our voice, and the more we are able to accomplish. Encourage your co-workers and chapter members to join ILCA/USLCA!
Speakers Needed for 2009 USLCA Webinars
We need to begin planning the webinars that USLCA will host for 2009. Please submit speakers so we can begin the planning process. Topics can cover communication skills, ethics, legal issues, clinical skills, private practice or clinical settings. I know we have some great speakers with a wealth of information to share. Webinars are 1 hour in length and can be done in parts if more time is needed. It takes at least 60 days to get approval before hosting the event.
Laurie Beck, RN, MSN, IBCLC, RLC
USLCA Board of Director
Professional Development Committee
LaurieBeck@uslcaonline.org
Perinatal Regulations
Crystal Stearns, Director of Public Policy, Licensure, and Reimbursement, is still collecting perinatal regulations regarding breastfeeding and the role of the IBCLC. If your chapter has not yet sent her your state's regulations, please attempt to locate them and forward a copy to Crystal. They are not always easy to find–if you need help in locating them, please contact Crystal at CrystalStearns@uslcaonline.org. These regulations periodically come up for public review, and most need to add information about breastfeeding and IBCLCs. Sharing what each state already has helps prepare for meaningful input when the time arises!
Using the RLC Credential
Crystal is also looking at how many IBCLCs use the Registered Lactation Consultant (RLC) designation in conjunction with the IBCLC credential. See the November eNews for background on the RLC. Part Two of that article is still to come. If you can take an informal poll of your chapter members to see how many use RLC, let Crystal know.
Magnet Hospitals and the IBCLC
Karen Querna, USLCA Secretary, is still collecting names of members whose hospitals have achieved or are working towards Magnet status to study how this approach to professional self-improvement could be expanded to include the IBCLC. If you have not already contacted her about your interest in this subject, send her an email at: KarenQuerna@uslcaonline.org.
Liability Insurance Reminder
Remember, you can get a great deal on Liability Insurance through CM&F–and you can apply online directly from the USLCA website: http://www.uslcaonline.org/clinicalprac.html
CHAPTER NEWS
Starting a New Chapter!
Twenty-five of our fifty states have something in common: They have an official USLCA Chapter! That means, however, that there are 25 states without Chapters. Chapters provide the base for USLCA as a national affiliate, and having each state represented would strengthen the organization. Because there are some regulations that vary state to state, and because what happens in one state can often be used to jumpstart a similar effort in another, a statewide chapter structure makes sense.
USLCA has a packet to help states become chapters that includes guidance and sample bylaws. Contact Scott Sherwood at ExecutiveDirector@uslcaonline.org for one of these packets. Send questions to Board of Director Debbie Costello, Director of Member Services, at DebbieCostello@uslcaonline.org.
Chapter Conference Calls Continue–Next Month's Guest: Anna Utter, IBCLC, RLC, and Regional Director of IBLCE in the Americas
Is your chapter represented on the monthly Chapter Conference Calls? Hosted by Debbie Costello, each month 10-15 or more representatives get together by phone to discuss ideas and plans for Chapters. There's a wealth of information being shared each month.
If your chapter is not being represented on these calls, it's not too late to start! Send a representative and an alternate to Debbie so she will know who to send the notices and meeting minutes to. Its fine for more than one person to attend from any given chapter–just make sure that somebody, from your chapter is on the calls. If you are in one of the states who does not yet have a chapter, you might consider attending these calls to get ideas–a warning, though–the enthusiasm on these calls is contagious!
Be sure and mark your calendar for the February 1 call–Anna Utter, the Regional Director of IBLCE in the Americas, will be the guest, talking about how IBLCE and USLCA plan to work together. For information on participating in the chapter call, contact Scott Sherwood or Debbie Costello at their respective e-mail addresses above.
NEWS FROM ILCA
Cathy Carothers, Director of Marketing, ILCA Board of Directors, recently announced a new service and a new DVD that is already winning rave reviews:
Directory of IBCLCs Providing Workplace Lactation Support
The International Lactation Consultant Association announces a brand new service to help promote the role of IBCLCs to employers. ILCA's new "Directory of IBCLCs Providing Workplace Lactation Support" is being developed to list names of ILCA member IBCLCs who are available to assist both employers and employees with workplace support. read
more.
"Breastfeeding Best Practice: Teaching Latch & Early Management"—New Training DVD!
The new breastfeeding training DVD for staff, "Breastfeeding Best Practice: Teaching Latch & Early Management," co-produced by ILCA and InJoy Videos, has received rave reviews from the Educational Media Reviews Online (EMRO), a database of reviews of major electronic educational resources. EMRO gave the "impressively designed" DVD a "highly recommended" status, and stated that the "production values are fresh, clear, concise and consistent with the professional quality training videos we've come to expect from Injoy."
ILCA members can obtain this exciting new teaching resource at a $25 discount from ILCA. The DVD also provides an opportunity to earn 1.5 contact hours of continuing education credit from ILCA and, as always, ILCA members receive a 50% discount on the study module processing fee. read
more.
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LEGISLATIVE NEWS
Massachusetts Passes Its Breastfeeding Law!
Congratulations to Massachusetts breastfeeding mothers present and future—Governor Deval Patrick signed into law a breastfeeding act with "teeth"—in addition to protection for breastfeeding mothers to nurse in public, it also carries with it a $500 fine to be levied against those who would harass a nursing mother. To read more about the bill, go to the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition website.
Providing Input to a New Administration: The Citizens Briefing Book
The Obama Transition Team has added a new method of soliciting input from the public. Go to Change.gov and check out the "Citizen's Briefing Book." This is an online forum where you can share ideas and rate or comment on the ideas of others. The ideas that receive the best ratings will make it into a binder to be delivered to President Obama. Perhaps this is a way to begin a movement or two relevant to our work as IBCLCs and promoting breastfeeding on a national scale? Why not give it a try!
NEWS YOU CAN USE
American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Revises Breastfeeding Position Paper
The American Academy of Family Physicians recently revised its breastfeeding position paper—and it is impressive. While it only refers to getting help from a "certified lactation consultant or other knowledgeable professional" (as opposed to an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant), it is well written and heavily referenced. ILCA is mentioned as a breastfeeding support organization. Three members of the AAFP Breastfeeding Advisory Committee are current USLCA/ILCA members: Anne Eglash, MD, FABM, IBCLC; Anne Montgomery, MD, FAAFP, FABM, IBCLC; and Rebecca Saenz, MD, FABM, IBCLC.
To read the new position paper, click here.
[Note: This item was inadvertently left off of the December eNews. Sorry for the error.]
MCH Library Includes ILCA Position Paper in Breastfeeding and Working Mothers Bibliography
The MCH Library provides a wealth of information on any topic relevant to maternal and child health–including breastfeeding. The information is presented by topic, and includes links to a variety of organizations, resources, and other materials. The "Breastfeeding and Working Mothers" bibliography includes a list of 21 items published in the last 10 years on breastfeeding for mothers returning to work, and for breastfeeding promotion in the workplace. One of the items in this list is ILCA's "Position Paper on Breastfeeding and Work," and is described as follows:
In this position paper, the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) expresses its endorsement for women's right to receive support for breastfeeding in the context of their paid and unpaid work. The paper also spells out the role of the Association and International Board Certified Lactation Consultants in reducing the barriers that mothers face as they seek to harmonize breastfeeding and work. The paper provides an introduction to the issue; discusses research on breastfeeding; and presents the ILCA's position regarding affirmation, recommendations, and actions. Notes and references are included.
The entry also includes a direct link to both ILCA and to the Position Paper
[Note: The MCH Library website is in the process of an update of its database and server. The link to this bibliography is temporarily broken. Please keep checking back.]
Local Acts: Highlighting Innovation in Local Public Health
For those of you working in a local health department, here's a way to shine a spotlight on your breastfeeding promotion efforts. Public Health Reports, the official journal of the US Public Health Service, is seeking submissions to its "Local Acts" column that features public health initiatives, programs, resources, practices or tools that are both exemplary and replicable. "Such practices may include creative marketing campaigns, targeted legal action under local health codes, unusual agreements with the private sector, or any other innovative way to address a public health issue or need in the community." This sounds like the perfect opportunity to tell about the work of IBCLCs in public health! For more information, go to the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) website.
The Face of Facebook…
By now, you've probably heard at least distant rumblings about the brouhaha on Facebook, the huge social network that has declared breastfeeding photos to be obscene. The company chose to delete breastfeeding photos rather than try to discern what is "appropriate" nudity and what is heading down a slippery slope to porn. Not surprisingly, the outcry from nursing mothers and those who work with them has been huge—complete with protests both online and at company headquarters. The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine even issued a press release pointing out the normalcy of breastfeeding, and therefore its appropriateness on Facebook. If you'd like to read more about this controversy, check out Amy Spangler's Baby Gooroo blog from December 23, 2009. So far, the protests have not led to any change in policy by Facebook management, but it has made for heated discussion around the globe.
Meanwhile, The New Yorker and History Today Look at Wet Nursing and Bottling Breast Milk
For a fascinating history lesson of wet nursing, bottling breast milk, and more, check out the January 19, 2009 issue for "Baby Food: If Breast is Best, Why are Women Bottling Their Milk?" by Jill Lepore; and the December 2008 issue of History Today for "Nursing Times," by Paul Doolan.
Business Case For Breastfeeding Project Begins 2009 With Ten New State Coalitions
The Business Case for Breastfeeding, a project funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), with additional funding from the HHS Office on Women's Health, is beginning Year 2 with the selection of ten new State Breastfeeding Coalitions. The states were selected through a competitive process from among 21 outstanding applications across the country.read
more.
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