Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Ashley Legassic

BREAST MILK

New depot opens in Kamloops to allow people to donate milk for vulnerable babies

Oct 11, 2019 | 3:58 AM

KAMLOOPS — Interior Health is hoping to make it easier to donate breast milk to help other moms and babies by opening two new depots in Kamloops and Kelowna.

In the past, mothers have been able to donate breast milk through periodic milk bank drives in Kamloops, but now a collection depot has been established at the Kamloops Health Unit.

IH says in a news release that this will help more people become donors and will allow them to donate on a continuous basis.

“Two new milk depots for Kelowna and Kamloops will help infants in the very first, fragile stages of their lives, and are incredibly important for those first few days,” said Health Minister Adrian Dix in the release. “I am proud of Interior Health for making this happen and thank the selfless donors who provide milk to meet the ever-growing demand.”

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IH adds that breast milk is especially important for sick and very tiny babies.

“Screened and pasteurized donor human milk is often in high demand at hospitals across the province for premature or sick infants. While a mother’s own milk is always the first choice, pasteurized donor human milk is extremely beneficial for at-risk newborns, such as those born prematurely,” said Rob Finch, Interior Health’s Maternal, Newborn, Child & Youth Network Director. “Our sincere thanks to all those who have supported milk drives in the past for your continued dedication to the provincial milk bank and the babies it serves.”

With the introduction of the depots, IH joins the provincial network of breast milk depots, supporting the Provincial Milk Bank at BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre, along with five other health authorities.

The depots provide a place to drop off raw, frozen milk, which is transported to the provincial milk bank in Vancouver.

Donors are pre-screened and the donated milk is pasteurized at the provincial milk bank and distributed to hospitals throughout B.C.