Each week, HANYS highlights the many ways their member hospitals and health systems are transforming healthcare. Their “Member Spotlight” showcases care providers’ efforts to deliver quality healthcare to patients and communities.
Recently, Jamaica Hospital Medical Center(JHMC) was highlighted for our commitment to investing in groundbreaking initiatives to improve care quality, health outcomes, patient experience, and, in this case, ensuring a healthy start for newborns.
Breast milk is proven to significantly improve childhood nutrition and development, decrease certain childhood infections and save millions in treatment costs for acute illnesses down the line.
For those reasons and more, JHMC created its Volunteer Milk Depot in partnership with the New York Milk Bank in 2017. This service provides a safe place where lactating women in the community can donate their excess breast milk to mothers who are unable to breastfeed.
Volunteer human milk depots increase access to donors and help lower operational costs of producing pasteurized donor milk. This makes donor breastmilk more affordable and accessible to all mothers and babies in need.
During the first year of operation, Jamaica Hospital’s milk depot received milk deposits from 11 different donors. That equates to approximately 6,300 ounces of breast milk. In 2019, there were 12 donors. All donors were approved after undergoing a rigorous screening process.
Jamaica Hospital’s milk depot is located in the breastfeeding area of the WIC Department. It is staffed by volunteers who oversee operations and ensure donations are shipped out to the “parent” milk bank to be processed and pasteurized.
If you have any questions or would like to volunteer, donate or benefit from the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center’s Volunteer Milk Depot, please contact Ivis L. Penalver, BA, IBCLC, WIC Program Assistant Director at ipenalve@jhmc.org or 718-206-8607.