ABFTaskforce: What Can I Do?

What Can I do?

Wanting To Write A Letter To Seton, Or To The Editors?

Ideas For a Letter To Seton
Ready-to-Use Form Letter 1
Ready-to-Use Form Letter 2
Seaton, City and Newspaper Contact Information

Letter Ideas

Tell your story, or someone else's. What was your experience? How did an LC help you?
Address the mistaken idea that nurses and doctors can and will provide the services previously provided by lactation consultants with the following:
Lactation consultants are have extensive training so they know how to to identify and resolve a wide variety of feeding problems that can come up, on mother's or baby's side of things.
Some problems can be: latch, position, sucking problems, flat or inverted nipples, supply problems, nipple soreness due to several causes, special cases like Down's Syndrome or cleft palate, maintaining your supply while mother or baby are hospitalized or ill where baby cannot nurse, and so on.
Nurses have many other primary duties. They work hard and are kept very busy doing the minimum of what is required of them, and most do a good job.
The nursing staff was not consulted about the arrangement of taking on the duties of the LCs, and most disagree with the move to end lactation services. They rely on lactation services when they cannot help a mother beyond basics.
Maternity units rarely have enough nurses working at any given time, so nurses are overworked.
Nurses do not have time to provide the kind of care that a lactation consultant gives, even if they want to.
Nurses are not trained adequately in breastfeeding. The majority of nurses currently employed in the Seton network have received around 4 hours of training in breastfeeding, and have little practical training other than ad-hoc on the job. Even if they are trained more and able to assist with breastfeeding basics, there are always going to be more complex situations for which they have neither knowledge nor time.
More and more families nowadays want and expect that there will be a breastfeeding specialist available at the hospital for hands on help with breastfeeding and to answer questions about incorporating breastfeeding into their lifestyle. Patients demand this service.
Breastfeeding is natural, but it is a learned skill for both mother and baby.
In the first few days after a baby is born, it is common to need the expertise and knowledge of a lactation consultant.
Many women, if breastfeeding is not going well after the first 2 to 5 days after birth, will give up breastfeeding. Support, encouragement, and education the first few days while still in the hospital after birth is crucial.
Most women are able to breastfeed successfully with early, competent intervention if it is needed.
Breastfeeding is a public health issue. Having qualified, certified specialists on hand to support this important preventative health care measure is important.
Breastfed individuals are healthier, more effectively avoiding viruses and infectious diseases-as well as chronic debilitative conditions like obesity and diabetes-in infancy, childhood, and adulthood.
Breastfed individuals save billions of dollars every year in healthcare costs every year.
Breastfeeding also saves costs to the social service system, as it is a reliable food source that does not require tax dollars to provide it to needy citizens.
Having lactation consultants available in the hospitals 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, contributes in statistically significant, measurable ways to the well-being of individual babies and mothers, as well as to our public health.
The wise approach would be to expand breastfeeding support services, not reduce them.
Seton has an expressed [all over all their literature, website, etc] mission to serve the poor and vulnerable, and yet they have eliminated ALL breastfeeding support from Brackenridge, where the people with the lowest income and the least resources go.
The Texas legislature enacted comprehensive laws in 1995 regarding breastfeeding and its benefits.
The US Surgeon General's office and the Texas Department of Health are promoting a national health promotion initiative, Healthy People 2010, which has as one of its key points getting more people to start breastfeeding and to breastfeed for longer.
Saying that lactation consultants are unnecessary and expendable is like saying 'you don't need an anesthesiologist, let the nurses give the epidural,' or 'you don't need a brain surgeon, the family practice doctor can do it.' We insist on specialists at our births, even though birth is a natural and normal event. Breastfeeding is natural and normal, yet for many reasons, many women and babies need the help of specialists to succeed.

Form Letter 1

To whom it concerns:

I am concerned about Seton's recent decision to cut lactation services.
[NOTE: Tell your personal story, if you have one.]

This is an essential service which is desired and expected by most mothers today. It is a mark of a good hospital to have board certified lactation consultants, just as specialists in other fields are available to patients when they need them.

I know that nurses and doctors cannot provide these services the way that lactation consultants can. They do not have the time, or adequate training. The cutting of lactation services will result in frustrated and dissatisfied patients, overwhelmed staff, and more failed breastfeeding experiences.

This, in turn, will decrease the health of our children, mothers and our community. It will also drive up health care and social service costs to the taxpayer.

I am disturbed that Seton proclaims its commitment to service to the poor, and yet has completely wiped out lactation services at Brackenridge, where the people of our society who have the least resources go to receive care.

Please support the restoration of comprehensive lactation services throughout the Seton network.

Sincerely,
Your name

Form Letter 2

To whom it concerns:

I am writing to express my disapproval of Seton's decision to cut back and eliminate lactation services.
I have had personal experience with the lactation consultants/I know someone who has had personal experience with the LCs. [NOTE: Tell your story]

Expecting the nurses to take over the work of the lactation consultants is unfair and unrealistic. Nurses are busy, are not adequately trained, and many do not even want to be that specialized. The nurses have depended on the lactation consultants to help their patients when they cannot. Lactation consultants are like any other specialist and should be available as part of an interdisciplinary team in the maternity ward.

Not having lactation consultants in the hospitals WILL cause a rise in the use of formula, more failed breastfeeding, and therefore all the problems and risks associated with not breastfeeding. It will also greatly increase patient and staff frustration.

When a mother delivers at a hospital, she expects the very best care to help herself and her baby to have a safe transition home. This care includes breastfeeding specialists. For many mothers, the care, concern and time they receive from breastfeeding specialists make all the difference in their breastfeeding experience. I would not choose to birth in a hospital where lactation consultants were not available!

Not having a good start to breastfeeding, and not having a knowledgeable, experienced breastfeeding specialist available when there are problems or questions, will lead to less breastfeeding.

Less breastfeeding means more sick babies and children and adults. This means more costs to our community to care for these people with preventable health problems like asthma, allergies, ear infections, diabetes, and obesity.

I encourage Seton to support the restoration of comprehensive lactation services immediately.

Sincerely,
Your name

People to Email and Call (Quick List) :

Email all city council members at once:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/groupemail.htm

SETON CONTACTS:
phayes@seton.org, cbarnett@seton.org, jgarza@seton.org, lrobertson@seton.org, egetchell@seton.orgpcrowther@seton.org

DETAILS ABOUT THE ABOVE LIST:

CITY COUNCIL GROUP EMAIL
Council members names and phone numbers:
Danny Thomas 974-2266
Mayor Will Wynn 974-2250
Jackie Goodman 974-2255
Brewster McCracken 974-2256
Raul Alvarez 974-2264
Betty Dunkerley974-2258

MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE ABOVE SETON CONTACTS.

ALL INFORMATION WAS OBTAINED BY CALLING SETON'S SWITCHBOARD AT 324-1000 AND BRACKENRIDGE'S SWITCHBOARD: 324-7000, AND BY GUESSWORK ABOUT A FEW OF THE EMAILS BASED ON HOW THE EMAIL SYSTEM APPEARS TO WORK:

Patricia Hayes, Executive Vice-President of Seton Network
phayes@seton.org
324-1102

Charles Barnett, President and CEO of Seton
cbarnett@seton.org
324-1902

Jesus Garza, CEO of Brackenridge
jgarza@seton.org (email not confirmed)
324-7881

Michele Middlebrook-Gonzalez, Media and Community Relations Director through Seton Switchboard, 324-100 and ask for Community Relations office. I was not able to get her direct number or email.

Pam Crowther, Media Relations for Seton
324-3170
pcrowther@seton.org (email not confirmed)

FOR PATIENTS, OR FORMER PATIENTS-THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHOSE JOB IS TO TAKE COMPLAINTS AND COMPLIMENTS FROM PATIENTS:
Laura Robertson, Brackenridge Patient Representative
lrobertson@seton.org
324-7186

Edith Getchell, Seton Patient Representative
egetchell@seton.org
324-1122

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

Austin Chronicle
mail@austinchronicle.com

Austin American Statesman http://www.statesman.com/search/content/feedback/lettersubmit.html

You must go to the above website to submit a letter to the Statesman electronically. You can also mail to: Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 670, Austin, Texas 78767
Send faxes to (512) 912-5927

Please note guidelines: Include a name, address and daytime and evening phone numbers so that authorship can be confirmed if your letter is chosen for publication. We edit letters for brevity, grammar and clarity. Edited letters typically address a single idea and do not exceed 150 words. Photographs may be included for possible publication, but cannot be returned. Because of the volume received, we cannot return or acknowledge letters not used. Anonymous letters will not be published.

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