New breast milk drop site opens in Red Deer

RED DEER – Alberta Health Services (AHS) and NorthernStar Mothers Milk Bank are excited to announce the opening of NorthernStar Mothers Milk Bank Red Deer Milk Drop.

Located in the Johnstone Crossing Community Health Centre, 300 Jordan Parkway, the milk drop will serve as a site for approved breastfeeding mothers to drop off their milk, which is then sent to NorthernStar’s lab to be pasteurized and dispensed to sick babies in hospitals and communities across Canada.

“We are thrilled to be working alongside NorthernStar Mothers Milk Bank on this initiative,” says
Lori Henneigh, AHS Public Health Area Manager for Red Deer. “Red Deer is a growing community with many young families in the area and we know many mothers will be interested in participating in this important, life-changing donor program.”

NorthernStar Mothers Milk Bank is Canada’s only community-based milk bank. As advocates and champions for healthy babies, the agency’s goal is to connect donor human milk with as many sick and fragile babies as possible. As a charitable organization, NorthernStar screens breastfeeding mothers as milk donors, accepting their milk as donations to be pasteurized in their laboratory and dispensed to sick babies. Milk is triaged, ensuring the sickest babies receive the milk first.

Donors are not compensated for their milk; rather, they give to support those babies who critically need the life-saving elements of donor human milk. This year, the milk bank will dispense more than 130,000 ounces (more than 1,000 gallons) of donor human milk.

“We are pleased to see this milk drop opening in Red Deer today,” says Jannette Festival, Executive Director of the NorthernStar Mothers Milk Bank. “We encourage Red Deer and area mothers to participate in donating their excess breast milk. To babies in the NICU, donor human milk is medicine and premature babies depend on human milk for its life-saving benefits. With the giving spirit of Red Deer mothers, we’re confident the milk drop will thrive in this community.”

The Red Deer Milk Drop is one of 11 milk drops opening in the Prairie provinces this year.

For more information about the milk bank and how to become a donor, visit the milk bank’s website at northernstarmilkbank.ca. For more information about Red Deer’s Milk Drop hours, please call 403-356-6300.

Alberta Health Services is the provincial health authority responsible for planning and delivering health supports and services for more than four million adults and children living in Alberta. Its mission is to provide a patient-focused, quality health system that is accessible and sustainable for all Albertans.

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