Breast Milk Depot Coming to Champaign
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 17, 2014
Contact
Heather Ludwig, IBCLC, RLC
(217) 531-4289
Amy Roberts, Public Relations
(217) 531-4264 /
Breast Milk Depot Coming to Champaign
Champaign-Urbana Public Health District to Host Drop-Off Site
Champaign, IL – The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD) and the Indiana Mothers’ Milk Bank (IMMB) will host a Milk Depot opening ceremony on Friday, June 20, 2014 at 201 W. Kenyon Road, Champaign, beginning at 10:00 AM in the Maternal and Child Health conference room. CUPHD will become the first downstate location in Illinois to become a breast milk drop-off site for screened and approved breast milk donors.
One goal of this program is to raise awareness of the importance of breast feeding for all babies and the life-saving benefit for premature babies in need. According to Heather Ludwig, Certified Lactation Consultant, “Many people are unaware of the option to donate breast milk. We want to raise awareness about this life-saving gift. When a mother's own milk is not available, the next best nutrition source is the use of human donor milk. There are over 200 ingredients in breast milk that cannot be duplicated in formula. Currently milk banks cannot keep up with the demand for donor human milk for infants with compromised health. We are hoping to expand donation and help fill this need.”
Donors will schedule an appointment to drop off their milk at CUPHD. Drop-off sites are meant to make the process more convenient for donor mothers. The Indiana Mothers’ Milk Bank provides an on-site freezer to store the milk and CUPHD will ship to the milk bank on a regular basis.
Indiana Mothers’ Milk Bank, Inc. was established in 2005 to improve health outcomes for premature and ill infants, foster better health for children and decrease healthcare expenditures. The milk bank receives human milk from carefully screened donors, pasteurizes, freezes and distributes across the Midwest. IMMB now has 35 milk drop-off sites across Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin and St. Louis and continues to grow.
For more information, visit www.immb.org.
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