The Women’s Health Center at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center recognized for excellence in lactation care

WOODBRIDGE — The Women’s Health Center at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center has been recognized for excellence in lactation care by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners® (IBLCE®) and International Lactation Consultant Association® (ILCA®).

Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center received the IBCLC Care Award in recognition for staffing professionals who hold the prestigious International Board Certified Lactation Consultant® (IBCLC®) certification and providing a lactation program for breastfeeding families.

In addition, the hospital demonstrated it has recently completed activities that help protect, promote, and support breastfeeding. It’s a recognition the Women’s Health Center is proud to receive.

“We are all about family-centered care which encourages the mom and family to participate in decision making, placing family needs at the center of care. Family-centered care – the “whole family” approach is at the heart of every interaction the nursing and physician teams have with the patients and families we serve,” explains Beverly Wainman, MSN, RN, Director of the Women’s Health Center at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center.

“Breastfeeding is a big part of that. In addition to our amazing lactation consultants, we have a breast feeding support group and will soon open an outpatient Lactation Center.”

IBCLCs focus on preventive care, so they are available during pregnancy to assess and provide information on how to successfully initiate breastfeeding. They continue that assistance after the baby is born by helping families overcome breastfeeding challenges, providing accurate information, and continuing to support them as their baby grows.

They assist families returning to work or school, help families in more unusual situations such as breastfeeding more than one baby or nursing a sick or premature infant, and help train nursing staff to manage basic breastfeeding care.

“Agencies that are awarded the IBCLC Care Award have dedicated their efforts to promote and provide a lactation program that makes expert assistance available when the breastfeeding family needs it. This is achieved through encouraging and informing breastfeeding families about the benefits and management of breastfeeding as well as training health care professionals to assist families achieve their breastfeeding goals,” says Roberto Issler, IBCLC Chair of the Board of IBLCE.

Adds Mudiwah A. Kadeshe, President of ILCA, “IBCLCs work tirelessly in all corners of the globe to help parents provide optimal nutrition to their children. We are proud to recognize some of these IBCLCs through the IBCLC Care Award, which highlights the significant contributions of IBCLCs to improving global health outcomes at the local level.”

As allied health care professionals with the leading internationally recognized certification for professional lactation services, IBCLC professionals work in hospitals and birthing centers, clinics, public health agencies, private practice, community settings, government agencies, and in research. There are currently more than 31,000 such professionals in 110 countries worldwide that are IBCLCs (www.iblce.org). The IBCLC certification program is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). NCCA accreditation represents a mark of quality for certification programs.

In addition to finding IBCLC professionals at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center, families can also find an IBCLC near them by visiting ilca.org.