Cincinnati, OH,
01
May
2018
|
14:00 PM
Europe/Amsterdam

Milk Drop for OhioHealth Mothers' Milk Bank Opens at Union Institute & University

Ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday, May 1, 2018, 1 p.m.

CINCINNATI, OH – Human milk helps to save the lives of infants who are born premature, ill, or have life-threatening conditions. That is why Union Institute & University (UI&U) and OhioHealth Mothers’ Milk Bank (OHMMB) have partnered to open the second milk drop in Cincinnati. UI&U will celebrate this partnership with a kickoff event on Tuesday, May 1 at 1pm, held at the Cincinnati Academic Center in Walnut Hills.

The Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky communities will benefit greatly from an additional milk drop.

“Currently, about 23% of donors to the OhioHealth Mothers’ Milk Bank are from the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Area. In the past year, roughly 20,000 ounces of milk has been donated to hospitals in the area. Just one ounce of milk can feed a premature infant for three days,” said Chris Smith, UI&U alumna (2005), OHMMB Outreach Coordinator & Lactation Consultant, and president of the Ohio Lactation Consultant Association (OLCA). “In 2017, OHMMB dispensed about 30,000 ounces (10%) of our milk to four hospitals in the Cincinnati/NKY area.”

“We have been thrilled at the response to our first milk drop in Cincinnati and are so excited to open a second location to make dropping off milk even more convenient for additional donors in the area,” said Smith. “OhioHealth is thankful to Union Institute & University for partnering with us to make donating human milk an extremely simple process.”

The alumna is looking forward to the opening of a milk drop at her alma mater.

“As a graduate of UI&U, I am excited to see my school reach out and support breastfeeding mothers in the Cincinnati area by opening this milk drop. I feel like this is their way of giving back to the local community as well as supporting the lactation community by supporting milk donation and milk banking,” said Smith.

The milk drop complements the UI&U lactation career offered through the Bachelor of Science with a Major in Maternal Child Health: Human Lactation degree and Master of Arts degree program with a Major in Health &Wellness and field of study on Human Lactation Studies. Union is one of the few universities in the country, and maybe the only one to offer a lactation degree online.

Union is conveniently located in the Walnut Hills neighborhood with free parking for drop-offs. Approved donors can simply drop off their milk for storage and shipment to Columbus without any hassle or inconvenience

Becoming a Donor

The milk bank relies on donations from healthy, lactating women who generously provide milk to help other babies. The donated milk is pasteurized, frozen and distributed by physician prescription. To become a volunteer breast milk donor, mothers must take part in a stringent screening process to ensure the quality and safety of the milk. This process includes a phone screening to verify eligibility, completion of a medical and lifestyle history review, a signed medical release from the donor and physician and consent to receive a blood test to screen for HIV, HTLV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and syphilis.

For more information about becoming a milk donor or for more information regarding OhioHealth visit this link, call the OhioHealth Mothers' Milk Bank at (614) 566.0630 or email milkbank@ohiohealth.com.

Start your career as a lactation professional with Union today with a click to this link. Or call 800-861-6400 or email https://apply.myunion.edu.

About Union Institute & University

Union Institute & University is a non-profit, regionally accredited university specializing in providing quality higher education degrees for adults nationwide. Founded in 1964, Union’s academic programs and services are the result of more than five decades of identifying and refining ways to structure and deliver education to meet the needs of adults. Distinguished as the pioneer in adult education, Union perfected the concepts now common in higher education such as the hybrid model, a blend of online and traditional classroom instruction, interdisciplinary studies, and student-centered education with socially relevant and applicable learning outcomes in its undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degree programs.

The university is guided by its core mission to educate highly motivated adults who seek academic programs to engage, enlighten, and empower them to pursue professional goals and a lifetime of learning, service, and social responsibility.

Union is a national university with academic centers located in: Ohio, Florida, and California.

For more information about Union Institute & University, visit www.myunion.edu or call 1- 800-861-6400.

About OhioHealth

OhioHealth is a nationally recognized, not-for-profit, charitable, healthcare outreach of the United Methodist Church.

Based in Columbus, Ohio, OhioHealth has been recognized as one of the top five large health systems in America by Truven Health Analytics, an honor it has received six times. It is also recognized by FORTUNE as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” and has been for 12 years in a row, 2007-2018.

Serving its communities since 1891, it is a family of 29,000 associates, physicians and volunteers, and a network of 10 hospitals, 200+ ambulatory sites, hospice, home-health, medical equipment and other health services spanning a 47-county area.

OhioHealth hospitals include OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital, OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, OhioHealth Doctors Hospital, OhioHealth Grady Memorial Hospital, OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital, OhioHealth Hardin Memorial Hospital, OhioHealth Marion General Hospital, OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital, OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital and OhioHealth Shelby Hospital. For more information, please visit our website at www.ohiohealth.com.