Breastfeeding cop forced to take unpaid leave

“Breastfeeding cop forced to take unpaid leave”

A breastfeeding DC police officer has been forced to take leave without pay after the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) refused to allow her to work at a desk job. The department’s chief of police, a woman and mother, upheld MPD’s new policy to deny reasonable options for breastfeeding moms.

The Draconian decision by MPD is mind-boggling. There is no sound justification for rejecting the mother’s right to express her milk for nurturing her baby. MPD’s own physician backed the officer’s request. After all, going back on the street would require the mom to wear a bullet-proof vest. The heavy protective gear would cause major discomfort and potentially compromise the mother’s lactation. 

For MPD’s information, breastfeeding is proven to be beneficial to babies, moms and employers. The Le Leche League, which promotes a better understanding of breastfeeding as an important element in the healthy development of the baby and mother, lists the following benefits:

 

Benefits for Baby

·         Antibodies in breast milk protect the baby from illness.

·         Breastfeeding promotes appropriate jaw, teeth and speech development as well as overall facial development.

 

Benefits for Mother

·         Breastfeeding is linked to reduced rates of breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

·         A breastfeeding mother can feed her baby even during stressful times such as when normal supplies of food and water are not available.

·         Breastfeeding saves time for mothers.

 

Benefits for Employers

·         Breastfed babies are healthier babies; thus, mothers who are employed outside the home are likely to miss fewer days of work.

What do you think about breastfeeding on the job? Send us your comments.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/2011/07/breast-feeding-dc-cop-forced-take-leave-without-pay?page=0%2C0%2C0%2C1

http://www.llli.org/faq/advantagetoddler.html

Nurses Are Vital to Hospice, Outpatient and Primary Health Care

Nurses Are Vital to Hospice,

Outpatient and Primary Health Care

The role of nurses has always been important in providing quality health care in hospitals; however, today’s nurses are transforming health care beyond hospital settings.  In addition to reinventing America’s approach to hospice care from “a service that provided a place to die to one that addressed many end-of-life issues and allowed patients to remain in their homes,” nurses have evolved into strong patient advocates and indeed are the sole source of quality, “high-level” health care for many underserved areas and populations in America.  And with the possibility of adding more than 35 million newly insured citizens as a result of health care reform, nurses will be even more critical to local and state public health departments and primary care centers.  

Highlighted Clip for Tuesday, May 31, 2011:

"Role of nurses extends beyond the hospital ward"

A nurse is a doctor’s best friend, according to Marvin M. Lipman, Consumers Union’s chief medical adviser. This advice was given to him by a hospital ward’s head nurse when he was a third-year medical student making contact with patients for the first time, along with the suggestion that’d he’d do well not to forget it.