ENRICH Carolinas Update

We are now fortunate enough to have two ENRICH Carolinas projects. Our Spring 2019 newsletter updated on new funding which expands on the original project and is called ENRICH Carolinas Expansion (discussed below). The original project is beginning it’s third of 3 years, and is serving 19 maternity centers and their communities. ENRICH breastfeeding and quality improvement coaches are continuing to go out in the field on site visits to these participating hospitals providing tailored technical assistance aimed at helping implement evidence-based maternity care practices.

Participants from several Vidant facilities in Eastern NC pose with Breastfeeding Coach Julia Bourg (top left) at a learning meeting.

Alongside coaching activities are efforts to engage community touch-points working with or within prenatal clinics and area childcare centers. These community efforts focus on providing staff education and training around supporting families who are breastfeeding. Prenatal clinic staff receive education on the importance of counseling about breastfeeding and maternity care practices such as skin-to-skin. Through the project, training participants receive sample materials of the pilot tested curriculum, Ready Set Baby. Early Care and Education professionals are invited to trainings where they learn breastfeeding best practices for child care settings and how these practices relate to state regulations and national guidelines. Participants receive CGBI materials for program use, including laminated milk storage guidelines and parent/ caregiver booklets.

Supporting families to safely feed their children in times of disaster is another key element of education and training provided through this project. Last Summer, Dr. Aunchalee Palmquist offered a training webinar to enrolled hospitals on supporting families during emergencies, including when there may not be access to power or water.

In the Fall, Dr. Bobbi Philipp offered a webinar that offered insights, tips and motivation from her decades long career as a Baby-Friendly pioneer at Boston Medical Center. Our teams are excited to come together for an in-person learning session in March of this year for continued learning, sharing and inspiration. We are confident this group is well-equipped to continue the hard work at their facilities and have a successful 2020!

ENRICH Carolinas Expansion Update

Recent funding allows us to build on the lessons we are learning with the current ENRICH hospitals, and expand enrollment eligibility to any hospital in North or South Carolina no matter whether they are just starting out on an improvement journey, or whether they are already designated as Baby-Friendly and are working on sustaining gains. This project has the potential to impact 178,000 births in the 2 states. We have completed enrollment for the first cohort of facilities, and actively planning the components of the technical assistance as well as an over aching evaluation of the project.

Interested hospitals for one of the two additional cohorts may watch an informational webinar and submit their interest via the form online. We plan to enroll Cohort II in 2020, and Cohort III in 2021.

In the Press:

  • Our local news outlet did a short piece on the importance of this project and we invite you to view it by clicking here.
  • A film crew shadowed breastfeeding coach Gigi Lawless out in the field and created a short video aimed at raising awareness of this incredible opportunity for birthing hospitals to receive support. View and share the promotional video here.

We are excited that supplemental funding from BCBS of NC allows us to cover some of the fees associated with Baby-Friendly designation for facilities in NC. We are actively working with stakeholders in SC to secure a similar incentive for facilities in SC. We are grateful for all the support we have received and look forward to bringing you more updates of our first cohort after our first in-person collaborative meeting in February of 2020!

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Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute
Department of Maternal and Child Health
135 Dauer Drive
422 Rosenau Hall, CB #7445
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7445