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Marlene D. Allison, RN, MPH, Office of Clinical Affairs, New York City Health & Hospitals Corporation, 125 Worth Street, Suite 427, New York, NY 10013, 212 788 3397, allisonm@nychhc.org
New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (NYCHHC), a public health care system, is the largest provider of care to the city’s minority, indigent population. The Corporation’s eleven acute care hospitals on average deliver approximately 26,000 infants annually. Each hospital within the Corporation adopted the Surgeon General’s Healthy People 2010 goal to have 75% of mothers breast feeding at time of discharge. This goal was very challenging as the majority of the mothers who delivered were African Americans and ethnic minorities (known to have the lowest breastfeeding rates nationally). Barriers to increasing the breastfeeding rate were socio-economical, cultural, linguistic (21 different languages) and educational. Strategies implemented included designation of a Breastfeeding/Lactation Coordinator in each hospital, staff education on breast feeding, multidisciplinary breast feeding committees, breastfeeding newsletter for hospital staff, monthly monitoring of each facility’s breast feeding rate and goal setting for the breast feeding coordinators. In January 2004 twenty-one hospitals in the City achieved the Surgeon General’s goal of 75% of mothers breast feeding at time of discharge. Three of these hospitals were from the NYCHHC. In addition, as of January 2004, the breast feeding compliance rate across the Corporation has increased by 40%.
Learning Objectives: At the end of the presentation participants will be able to: (1). Identify barriers to breastfeeding in an ethnically diverse population. (2) Discuss innovative strategies to increase compliance in breastfeeding (75% upon discharge) among minority groups.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Breastfeeding, Ethnic Minorities
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.