Two health care teams in south Okanagan are being internationally acknowledged for their support of new parents and their babies.
Interior Health made an announcement on Friday that Penticton Regional Hospital (PRH) and Penticton Health Centre (PHC) have been given national and global recognition for the Baby-Friendly Initiative (BFI), a program by the World Health Organization and UNICEF that guides best breastfeeding practices.
“This recognition shows that the care teams in Penticton provide to babies and new parents is of high quality, giving them the healthiest start on their new journey together,” said Dr. Shallen Letwin, vice-president of clinical operations in the press release.
Penticton Regional Hospital was selected as one of 27 sites in Canada to lead a national BFI quality improvement project in 2019.
The project was overseen by the Breastfeeding Committee for Canada and funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
“As the PHC is a close partner in care, a community-based collaborative model was used, allowing the two facilities to work on the project together,” stated the Interior Health press release.
“This work was also supported by the Systems Change Project, with funding from the Vancouver Foundation. Four years later, PRH and PHC join only three other facilities in the province and 28 across Canada with the official designation.”
Now four years later, the hospital and health centre join only three other facilities in the province and 28 across Canada with the official designation.
The BFI promotes 10 steps to successful breastfeeding, including immediate and continuous skin-to-skin contact between parent and baby.
Interior Health added that the contact benefits all families, no matter how they plan to feed their baby.
“The goal of the BFI is to make breastfeeding and chestfeeding easier for families by helping them get off to the best start possible, and supporting them for as long as they need,” said Penticton’s BFI lead Meggie Ross in the press release.
“With BFI’s 10 steps to successful breastfeeding policies in place at our facilities, we know the family’s experience improves, and breastfeeding rates increase.”
Local mom Erin Robataille spoke at the celebration ceremony about her experience with the BFI program.
Her youngest is now three years old and her oldest is almost six, and Robataille needed support through both children for different reasons for breastfeeding.
“Once my time with midwives were over I needed to reach out to Tiffany who I knew was a lactation consultant and she was able to come and support me in my home to continue to breast feed my kids which was important to me,” said Robataille.
“I think this support is going to make a difference because as a mom you just want the best for your kids. So I think these kinds of opportunities to have resources all around you is really is an unbelievable opportunity and even for myself be able to talk to other people in the community who I know who have had children who don’t know what to do, or how to go about things or maybe they need to go a different route in their plan so being able to guide them to where they can go to access all the resources is amazing.
Robataille added that she also works at Penticton Regional Hospital and has been able to help other mothers find BFI resources.
“I am very thrilled about this — I anticipated this and I have had several mothers in the waiting room ask, ‘Can I breastfeed somewhere private?’ And I knew exactly where they could go,” said Robataille.
“Being involved in this has been a big success for me.”
The BFI also respects each family’s decision and provides them with the information and support they need to choose how to feed their baby in the way that's best for their situation.
As part of the project, Penticton Hospital has introduced pasteurized donor human milk from the BC Women’s Provincial Milk Bank as an option for families.
“The Baby-Friendly Initiative is a very valuable global program that supports all families,” said Lea Geiger, provincial clinical coordinator for maternal infant health at Perinatal Services BC in the press release.
“The BFI practice standards improve the quality of care given to all parents and their babies, giving them the knowledge and resources they need to provide their babies with the best possible start in life. By focusing on families in care, these standards promote a comprehensive approach that results in greater happiness and better outcomes for both parents and babies.”
