In a region where breastfeeding rates are far below state averages, the Mother’s Resource Center, located on the Community Regional Medical Center campus, is one of the Central Valley’s most significant resources for mothers and their newborns — providing education and one-on-one support – regardless of where baby was born.
“It was really important to me to breastfeed my baby and I was determined to try everything I could,” Plummer said. “As a first-time mom, I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing and things did not go the way I expected after delivery.”
The benefits of breastfeeding
The World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have confirmed that breastfeeding provides immediate benefits for children and their mothers, and contributes to a lifetime of better health. Adolescents and adults who were breastfed as babies are:- Less likely to be overweight or obese
- Less likely to experience Type-2 diabetes
- Less likely to have asthma, ear infections and stomach troubles
- Shown to perform better in intelligence tests
- Shown to have reduced risks for ovarian and breast cancer
For mothers breastfeeding, benefits include:
- Reducing the risk of ovarian and breast cancer
- Reducing the risk of Type-2 diabetes
- Lower risk of high blood pressure
- Being an always available, highly portable source of nutrition and comfort for your child, making travel easier
Serving all moms, no matter where their baby is delivered
“We don’t turn anyone away, no matter if they can pay or not,” said Suzanne Stipe, supervisor of the Mother’s Resource Center and inpatient bedside lactation education at Community Regional. “Our goal is to help as many moms as we can have a positive breastfeeding experience, no matter where they deliver.”Nearly all of the services the center provides are part of our health system’s community benefit, unreimbursed costs for care. Last year the healthcare system provided more than $268 million in community benefit outreach, education and unreimbursed medical care to our community.
“I visited the center almost immediately after being discharged and I could not have asked for a better experience,” said Plummer. “Suzanne was amazing and I just felt really heard, like I wasn’t in this alone.”
The Mother’s Resource Center receives referrals from hospitals throughout the Valley and assists new mothers following their discharge from the hospital. In addition to private consultations, the center also provides classes in both English and Spanish on breastfeeding basics, breastfeeding in special medical circumstances, and how to continue breastfeeding optimally after returning to work.
Recently, the center received a generous grant from the Fansler Foundation to purchase new breast pumps that will allow them to start a loaner program for moms who might not be able to afford a hospital-grade pump, but still want to provide their premature baby breast milk while they are in the neonatal intensive care unit at Community Regional. The program will launch in the fall.
“My daughter is almost a year old and when I look back on where I was that first day I walked in and met Suzanne, to where I am today and how far I’ve come, I feel a huge sense of pride,” said Plummer. “The Mother’s Resource Center changed my life and my hope is that any mom struggling with breastfeeding will take advantage of this gem we have here in the Valley.”
