Maternal-Child Health Panel.

It's that time again. I'm putting together my panel of nurses/doulas to speak to my students about various careers in maternal-child health. If you'd like to be on the panel, please email me. The students really love this, and we always have a nice variety of speakers. The panel is in 3 weeks, the first Monday in April.

Breastfeeding Support

Check out this article exposing this pharmaceutical company as it attempts to mimic the federally funded "Business Case for Breastfeeding" that supports lactation in the workplace. Why would a formula producing pharmaceutical company want to support extended lactation?
(Hint: they don't)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-bartick/ipeaceful-revolutioni-let_b_171570.html

Breastfeeding and SIDs

Here's an article from the journal 'Pediatrics' that links a dramatic decrease in SIDs to breastfeeding.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/123/3/e406

Midwives Deliver

A nice article by Jennifer Block, "Midwives Deliver"

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-block24-2008dec24,0,102434.story

Letter to the Govenor

As my first official act as a Health Commissioner for my city, I sent this letter to my govenor, Kathleen Sebelius, who is the newly appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services. I' m hoping many of you will take the time to read this document as well.

Subject: Maternal-Infant Health
Comment:
Dear Govenor Sebelius,
As newly appointed Health Commissioner for Greater Kansas City by Mayor Funkhouser, and as you have recently been appointed as Secretary for Health and Human Services by President Obama, I would like to make you aware of a document that I had input on recently that was prepared for the former nominee, Tom Daschle. The document is titled, "Maternity Care: Community meeting in the Heartland" This documented meeting which occurred in Dec. of 2008 assembled an impressive array of maternity care advocate from various fields (including nurses, physicians, midwives, consumers, and media and communications specialists) from Kansas and Missouri to discuss problems and offer solutions regarding maternal-infant care. The result is this document. I hope you and your staff will take the time to read it- I am including a link to the pdf.:

http://www.birthpolicy.org/pdf-bin/PushReport200812.pdf

We represent a stalwart community of devoted professionals and consumers committed to improving maternal-infant health. Please know that we are here as a resource for you and your staff. Together, we can make the world a safer and healthier place for mothers and babies.

Health Commission

Tomorrow morning I will head to the local health department to attend a meeting. The mayor will introduce me as a nominee for his health commission. The focus will be health disparities. I don't know anymore until after the meeting, except that I relish this opportunity to work on behalf of mothers and babies in this way.