Daviess Community Hospital Becomes a Milk Bank Location

Daviess Community Hospital is the latest hospital in Indiana to be recognized as a collection site for human milk to be used to help babies whose mothers are unable to produce milk or enough milk to help them thrive.

The Milk Bank is a non-profit organization that promotes community health by expanding the safe use of human milk for all babies, especially premature and ill infants. Founded in 2005 as the Indiana Mothers’ Milk Bank, The Milk Bank was established to improve health outcomes for premature and ill infants, foster better health for children and decrease health care expenditures. The Milk Bank receives human milk from carefully screened donors, pasteurizes, freezes and distributes it throughout the United States. As a non-profit, community-supported entity, The Milk Bank is the first and only donor human milk bank in Indiana. The Milk Bank is a proud member of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America.

SOME USES OF PASTEURIZED DONOR HUMAN MILK

• Prematurity
• Infants susceptible or recovering from NEC
• Failure to thrive
• Malabsorption syndromes
• Short-gut syndrome
• Trophic feeds/gut-priming
• Inborn errors of metabolism
• Pre and Post-operative nutrition
• Adoption

To become a milk donor, call 1-877-829-7470, email engagement@themilkbank.org or go to www.themilkbank.org. You will be asked to fill out a donor application and medical history form. Consent forms from your physician as well as your baby’s physician will then need to be signed. Lastly, you will be asked to complete a blood test at the Milk Bank’s expense.

Once a mother has completed the process and approved, she will contact Melissa Schroeder at 812-254-2760 extension 1344 to arrange delivery of the milk to Daviess Community Hospital.

DCH invites the community to a grand opening of the local Milk Bank on the second floor in the Women’s Health Center at Daviess Community Hospital on Thursday, September 26, 2019, at 12pm.