New breast milk drop site opens in Medicine Hat

MEDICINE HAT – The NorthernStar Mothers Milk Bank Medicine Hat Milk Drop has been relocated from Jental Maternity to Medicine Hat Community Health Services
(2948 Dunmore Rd. S.E.)

The milk drop will serve as a site for approved breastfeeding mothers to drop off their milk, which is then sent to Calgary to be pasteurized and distributed to sick babies in hospitals and communities across Canada.

“We are thrilled to be working alongside NorthernStar Mothers Milk Bank on this initiative,” says Janice Blair, South Zone Director of Public Health for Alberta Health Services (AHS). “Medicine Hat is a young, growing and giving community and we know many mothers will be interested in participating in this important, life-changing donor program. Scientific research supports that babies who receive donor human milk become stronger and more resilient, reducing their time in hospital and reducing the likelihood of being sicker as children and adults.”

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 sick and fragile babies. 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. Premature babies who spend time in the NICU depend on human milk for its life-saving benefits.

“The Medicine Hat Milk Drop location is one of 11 drop locations to open in the Prairie provinces,” says Jannette Festival, Executive Director of the NorthernStar Mothers Milk Bank. “In relocating this drop location, we hope to encourage mothers in southeast Alberta to participate in something that changes lives: milk banking. Indeed, every precious drop counts to sick and fragile babies and women who are breastfeeding have the opportunity to help. We would like to thank Jental Maternity for their support in hosting the milk drop for the past three years.”

For more information about the milk bank and how to become a donor, visit the milk bank’s website at www.northernstarmilkbank.ca. For more information about Medicine Hat’s Milk Drop, please call 403-502-8200. The milk drop will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It’s closed weekends and holidays.

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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