Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace Award

Award Criteria

Recognition as a Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplace is based on the successful establishment of supportive policies, facilities and resources for breastfeeding employees and clients.

Employers may complete and return the award submission questionnaire to be eligible for recognition at the Bronze, Silver or Gold level. Review of the questionnaire and a follow-up site visit by a Corporate Lactation Specialist will determine the level of award based on the number of demonstrated strategies.

Award Criteria
Bronze = 1-5 strategies
Silver = 6-10 strategies
Gold = 11-15 strategies

Timeline
May 15: Survey submission deadline
June 30: Site visit completion
TBD by recipient: Award ceremony

Workplaces identified as Breastfeeding-Friendly are posted on this website and promoted through the media around the time that the awards are presented. Award presentations are scheduled at the convenience of award recipients. The award is jointly coordinated and presented by the Department of Health and the Rhode Island Breastfeeding Coalition. Previously recognized workplaces may reapply for a higher level of recognition in a subsequent year.

Gold
EDS (Electronic Data Systems)
Newport Hospital
South County Hospital Health System
University of Rhode Island
Westerly Hospital

Silver
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island
Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital
Landmark Medical Center
Lifespan Corporate Services
The Miriam Hospital
Rhode Island Department of Administration
Rhode Island Department of Health
Rhode Island Hospital / Hasbro Children's Hospital
Rhode Island Medical Imaging

Bronze
The American Cancer Society
Pawtucket Credit Union
Raytheon IDS Seapower Capability Center
Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation
Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island

Award Recipient Profiles

The American Cancer Society (Bronze 2006)
The American Cancer Society is a nationwide, community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem through research, education, advocacy, and service.

• Provides both a lockable patient education room that ensures privacy for employees who wish to express breast milk and a refrigerator for the storage of expressed milk.
• Distributes a written policy supporting breastfeeding to all employees.

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island (Silver 2007)
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island provides its members with peace of mind and improved health by representing them in their pursuit of affordable, high-quality healthcare.

• Distributes a written policy to all employees outlining breastfeeding organizational support. 
• Maintains designated breastfeeding rooms in 2 of its 6 buildings
• Provides access to a sink and refrigerator.
• Supports flexible scheduling to allow employees to pump during the workday.
• Posts benefits of breastfeeding on the employee website and in both lactation rooms.

EDS (Gold 2006)
EDS provides a broad portfolio of business and technology solutions to help its clients worldwide improve their business performance.

• Provides a dedicated lockable mother’s room for employees and clients. The room has a sink plus literature and audio-visual materials that expectant or new moms and dads can borrow.
• Distributes a written breastfeeding policy to all employees, provides information on the benefits of breastfeeding, and refers employees to a lactation consultant as needed.
• Provides employees with a bag and a pumping kit to use with their Lactina pump.

Landmark Medical Center (Silver 2007)
Landmark Medical Center is committed to providing health and human services with the highest ethical and quality standards and to providing care with integrity and compassion for all patients.

• Offers employees flexible work schedules to allow pumping during the workday.
• The Human Resources Department helps breastfeeding employees identify a clean, safe and private place to pump with a sink and refrigerator nearby.
• Provides employees with a hospital-grade breast pump to use in the workplace.
• On-staff Lactation Consultants assist employees with any breastfeeding challenges.
• Hospital clients are welcome to breastfeed in public places.

 Lifespan (Gold and Silver 2007)
Lifespan, a not-for-profit organization, strives to improve the health status of Rhode Islanders through the provision of customer friendly, geographically accessible, and high value health services. The Lifespan system includes Rhode Island Hospital / Hasbro Children's Hospital, The Miriam Hospital, Newport Hospital, Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital, and Lifespan Corporate Services.

• Offers work schedule flexibility
• Distributes a written policy outlining breastfeeding organizational support to all employees.
• All five Lifespan partners provide employees with access to a sink and to a safe, clean, private space where they can pump or express breastmilk.
• When possible, accommodates employees to breastfeed young babies in the workplace.
• All Lifespan Hospitals allow clients to breastfeed in public spaces.

Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital and Lifespan Corporate Services

• Provides breastfeeding rooms for their employees and clients.
• Distributes information on the benefits of breastfeeding to all employees.

The Miriam Hospital and Rhode Island Hospital / Hasbro Children's Hospital

• Lifespan works within each department to identify space for employees to pump.

Newport Hospital

• Sends, to each new parent, a congratulations card that includes information on the Lactation Support program.
• Allows breastfeeding employees to utilize the maternity floor, where they have continual access to both a private room and a hospital-grade pump.
• Sponsors Lactation Consultant services for all breastfeeding employees
• Offers employees a weekly support group facilitated by a Lactation Consultant.

Pawtucket Credit Union (Bronze 2006)
The Pawtucket Credit Union provides unparalleled value in products, services and rates and is committed to the well being of its membership, the communities it serves, and its employees

• Maintains a mother’s room that is close to a sink and refrigerator and includes a spacious lounge. Provides employees with flexibility to use the room as needed.

Raytheon IDS Seapower Capability Center (Bronze 2008)
Raytheon Company’s Integrated Defense Systems Seapower Capability Center is dedicated to the development and delivery of critical seapower capabilities to the global joint battlespace.

• At their Portsmouth location, Raytheon maintains three designated breastfeeding rooms, with functioning sinks nearby. The rooms are monitored by the Health Center’s Registered Nurse, who is available to assist with room scheduling.
• Provides information on the benefits of breastfeeding to all employees.
• Sponsors the services of a lactation consultant for their breastfeeding employees.

Rhode Island Department of Administration (Silver 2008)
The mission of the Rhode Island Department of Administration is to provide top quality customer service, administrative, and financial management services to internal and external customers.

• Provides a clean, comfortable, and secure mother’s room that contains a refrigerator, magazines and nursing accessories available to pumping mothers.
• Distributes its breastfeeding policy to all employees.
• Promotes the benefits of breastfeeding and the availability of the mother’s room to all female employees.
• Provides work schedule flexibility and on-site childcare, further accommodating breastfeeding.

Rhode Island Department of Health (Silver 2006)
The primary mission of the Rhode Island Department of Health (HEALTH) is to prevent disease and to protect and promote the health and safety of the people of Rhode Island.

• Provides a designated, private breastfeeding room with a sink, a refrigerator, and breastfeeding resources. Mothers returning to work receive a key for as long as they wish to use the room.
• Maintains a comprehensive policy that provides for a flexible work schedule.
• Promotes the importance of supporting breastfeeding mothers as they plan their maternity leave and return to work.
• A breastfeeding employee who used the room reported that, "Access to the breastfeeding room here at HEALTH was crucial to my ability to return to work full time. Choosing between supporting my family financially and breastfeeding my baby would have been an excruciating decision and I feel fortunate to not to have had to make it."

Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (Bronze 2006)
The mission of The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation is to strengthen the Rhode Island economy through policies, programs, and projects that enhance and enrich the business environment for public and private sectors to create prosperity for all Rhode Islanders.

• Provides a Mother's Room, located close to a sink and refrigerator, for which each mother has her own key.
• Employees do not have to use their breaks or lunchtime to pump.

Rhode Island Medical Imaging (Silver 2010)
Rhode Island Medical Imaging provides CT cat scan and MRI radiology medical services to Rhode Island hospitals.

• At eight locations throughout the state, provides an accessible, clean, private, and safe place for employees to pump.
• Posts, at all sites, a written breastfeeding policy outlining organizational support.
• Distributes breastfeeding policy to all new employees.
• Offers work schedule flexibility.
• Clients are free to breastfeed in public spaces, as publicized by the "Breastfeeding Welcome Here" sticker provided by RIBC.

South County Hospital (Gold 2007)
South County Hospital is an independent, non-profit, 100-bed acute care hospital at the center of South County Hospital Healthcare System. The first Baby-Friendly Hospital in Rhode Island, South County Hospital has a long history of supporting breastfeeding in the workplace.

• Distributes a written policy outlining organizational support and the benefits of breastfeeding to all employees.
• Allows employees to bring young babies into work with them.
• Clients are free to breastfeed in public spaces.
• Maintains a private room for employees and clients to use while pumping and has a hospital-grade breast pump and a refrigerator available for employee use.
• The hospital's health insurance plan covers home and office visits with a Lactation Consultant, a manual pump, and a hospital grade pump when medically necessary.

The University of Rhode Island (Gold 2009)
The University of Rhode Island provides lactation support to students, faculty, and staff on four campuses located across the state.

• Clean, comfortable, private lactation rooms are available on the Kingston, Narragansett Bay, and Feinstein Providence Campuses.
• Distributes and posts a lactation policy.
• Provides flexible schedules for employees who provide adequate notice of their need for lactation support and facilities.
• Grant funds are available through 2011 to hire a lactation consultant on request.
• Allows women who did not receive a pump kit in the hospital to purchase one through the URI Advance office.
• Offers a parenting lending library to student and employee parents, schedules regular brown bag lunches with speakers discussing topics relevant to young families, and is forming a new mother’s support group.

Westerly Hospital (Gold 2009)

• Maintains a new lactation room located near the Women’s Health Center, a Baby Friendly maternity wing known for its high level of personalized care.
• Provides employees with access to a hospital grade breast pump to use at work and provides a discount on Medela breast pumps and accessories.
• Employees can take advantage of the services of Health Center lactation consultants and can participate in the Breastfeeding Support Group held on Saturday mornings.
• Distributes and promotes a written Nursing Working Mothers Policy, that allows for a flexible work schedule to accommodate pumping mothers.
• Shares breastfeeding benefit information with employees through an internal newsletter and a new employee information packet.

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island (Bronze 2006)
Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island is one of the nation's leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns and is the tenth largest obstetrical service in the country with nearly 10 thousand deliveries per year.

• Employees may pump in one of the private family rooms in the nurseries or the nurse manager's office.
• Offers work schedule flexibility, a refrigerator for storage of pumped milk, and a hospital grade electric breast pump for employees to use while at work.
• Plans to provide an area where employees can pump breast milk as part of a new addition and retrofit of areas in the existing building. This project is targeted for completion by 2010.