KALAMAZOO (WKZO) – Bronson Methodist Hospital operates the only bank for mother’s milk in Michigan and it’s become such a useful supplement to assist babies that Bronson needs more donors to keep up with the demand.
The milk is frozen, processed and the donors are all tested and screened to ensure the quality of the milk, which is used to help premature babies and to supplement an infants’s first meals in situations when the mother is not available for feeding.
R.N. Cindy Duff who directs the program says right now the challenge is obtaining the raw milk they need.
She says new mom’s often have surpluses and they are more than happy to contribute, but they don’t know that there is an outlet for that surplus.
They currently have donors all over the region. If they can’t deliver it to the hospital, then arrangements can be made to ship frozen milk to the bank.
Duff says they currently have the production capacity to process enough natural mother’s milk to take care of the demand statewide, even as the demand grows.
It’s the supply of the raw material they are trying to expand.
It all comes down to making that connection between mothers who have the milk and sick little babies that need it.
You can call Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo and ask for the Milk Bank.Or you can go to this website.https://www.bronsonhealth.com/services/pregnancy-and-childbirth-at-bronson/mothers-milk-bank/
