BCBS seeks increase of baby friendly hospitals in state

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Mississippi welcomed national and state health experts to discuss the importance of increasing baby friendly hospitals in the state Nov. 14, in Flowood. Pictured are (from left) Daurice Gorssniklaus, Trish MacEnroe, Dr. Lori Feldman-Winter, Dr. Charlene Collier and Sherry Pitts. PHOTO BY SHANDERIA K. POSEY

By Shanderia K. Posey

Editor

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Mississippi welcomed national and state health experts to discuss the importance of increasing baby friendly hospitals in the state Nov. 14, in Flowood. Pictured are (from left) Daurice Gorssniklaus, Trish MacEnroe, Dr. Lori Feldman-Winter,  Dr. Charlene Collier and Sherry Pitts. PHOTO BY SHANDERIA K. POSEY
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Mississippi welcomed national and state health experts to discuss the importance of increasing baby friendly hospitals in the state Nov. 14, in Flowood. Pictured are (from left) Daurice Gorssniklaus, Trish MacEnroe, Dr. Lori Feldman-Winter, Dr. Charlene Collier and Sherry Pitts. PHOTO BY SHANDERIA K. POSEY

Mississippi has one of the lowest breast-feeding rates in the nation with 52 percent of babies ever being breast-fed compared to 81 percent in the nation. The state’s 2015 infant mortality rate was 8.2 out of 1,000 births, while the Healthy People 2020 goal is 6.0. While state programs are ongoing to combat those rates, a global program may soon expand in the state to further those efforts.

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative launched by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund began in 1991. The initiative’s purpose is to encourage and recognize hospitals and birthing centers that provide evidence-based maternity care to achieve optimal infant feeding outcomes and mother/baby bonding. So far, one hospital in the state – Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg – has earned the official “baby friendly” designation doing so in 2015. A handful of other hospitals have begun the process to earn the designation. On Nov. 14, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Mississippi announced it is encouraging all of its 35 delivering network hospitals to also earn the designation. BCBS also held a panel discussion among national health experts and network hospital representatives to discuss the initiative’s importance.

“Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Mississippi recognizes the importance of a healthy start in life supported by high quality care for mothers and infants throughout pregnancy and the childbirth experience,” said Dr. Sarah Broom, medical director at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Mississippi. “We believe it is important for all hospitals that deliver babies in Mississippi to give care that is grounded in the scientific evidence that mother baby bonding and breast-feeding lower the risk of certain diseases and result in improved health for both mothers and babies. A mother who delivers at a Baby-Friendly USA-designated hospital is educated about these facts in a safe and personal manner.”

“It’s important for Mississippi to work collaboratively to adopt the Baby Friendly Initiative and safely increase breast-feeding and decrease infant mortality,” said Dr. Lori Feldman-Winter, a professor of Pediatrics at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University and the Division Head of Adolescent Medicine at The Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper University Healthcare in Camden, N.J. She currently serves as American Academy of Pediatrics representative to the United States Breastfeeding Committee and is a member of the AAP Task Force on SIDS. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative includes “10 steps to successful breast-feeding” practices that hospitals would have to adopt in order to earn the designation. Some of those steps include training hospital staff, informing mothers of breast-feeding benefits, keeping a baby in the room with its mother for the first 24 hours and giving no pacifiers or nipples to breast-feeding infants.

Trish MacEnroe, executive director of Baby-Friendly USA, said on average it takes hospitals about three years to earn the designation. “We fully believe that this (initiative) will translate to improved health outcomes in our population both in infant health by reducing consequences among preterm babies and infant mortality but also the long-term health of Mississippians as breast-feeding can impact obesity, diabetes and other health problems that we see in Mississippi,” said Dr. Charlene Collier of the Mississippi State Department Health. Merit Health has 11 hospitals in the state that deliver babies. Sherry Pitts, CEO, of Merit Health Women’s Hospital, offered insight on what it means to seek the designation.

“We are committed to doing the right thing for both mother and baby,” she said. “We’ve embarked on this journey not only as a single hospital, but as a system of hospitals sharing both educational and operational resources.” With Mississippi’s challenges in regards to breast-feeding and infant mortality, Collier addressed why the baby friendly designations are just now occurring in the state.

“It takes a lot to change a culture around breast-feeding. It goes far beyond just hospital practices. It goes to what’s expected in the community, what patients want and it also goes to education that providers have.” Budget and resources in the state also impacted the expansion of designations.

“In the last few years, we have had a very fortunate synergy between experts showing interests in the state, resources coming to the state and having both the political will and the excitement and the resources all kind lining up together to make this become a reality. The nation is kind of watching us (Mississippi) … and we are fully expecting to see a big change in the next couple of years.”

Shanderia K. Posey can be reached at sposey@mississippilink.com.

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