Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplaces in Rhode Island

The Physicians' Committee for Breastfeeding in Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Department of Health are honoring two local businesses in 2008 for effectively accommodating employees who continue to breastfeed their infants when they return to work. Awardees from previous years are also included in the list below.
Event press release Award information

Gold
EDS (Electronic Data Systems)
Newport Hospital
South County Hospital Health System

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 Adminstration
Rhode Island Department of Health
Rhode Island Hospital / Hasboro Children's Hospital

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

Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplace Award Recipient Profiles

The American Cancer Society (Bronze 2006)
The American Cancer Society is the nationwide, community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem through research, education, advocacy, and service. Their patient education room is a relaxing library with a lock and sign on the door to ensure privacy for employees who wish to express breast milk in the workplace. The Society also distributes a written policy supporting breastfeeding to all employees and provides a refrigerator for the storage of expressed milk. The Society recognizes the importance of providing new moms with this important resource and works to help make the transition back to work comfortable, reassuring and supportive.

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. In the workplace, this major insurer has a written policy outlining organizational support for breastfeeding that it distributes to all employees. It has designated breastfeeding rooms in 2 of its 6 buildings, provides access to a sink and refrigerator, and supports flexible scheduling to allow employees to pump during the workday. Benefits of breastfeeding are posted 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. EDS has been proud to support breastfeeding in the workplace since 2000 and set up an improved dedicated mother's room upon moving to their new location in Warwick June of 2005. This soothing room has a sink, a lock on the door, and literature and audio-visual materials that expectant or new moms and dads can borrow. Employees can express during the day as needed and clients are also welcome to use the room. EDS distributes a written breastfeeding policy to all employees, provides information on the benefits of breastfeeding, and refers employees to a lactation consultant as needed. In addition, it provides employees with a bag and a pumping kit to use with their Lactina pump when they return to work and continue to breastfeed.

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. Landmark offers its employees flexible work schedules so that moms may pump during their workday. The Human Resources Department works with breastfeeding employees as needed to identify a clean, safe and private place to pump with a sink and refrigerator nearby. It also provides employees with a hospital- grade breast pump to use in the workplace. Employees may receive assistance with any breastfeeding challenges from on-staff Lactation Consultants Hospital clients are welcome to breastfeeding 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, which 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 and has a written policy outlining organizational support for breastfeeding that it distributes 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, Lifespan accommodates employees who may need 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 have designated rooms where employees can pump their breastmilk. Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital also allows clients to utilize their breastfeeding room and provides details on the benefits of breastfeeding to all employees. At The Miriam Hospital and Rhode Island Hospital / Hasbro Children's Hospital, Lifespan works within each department to identify space for employees to pump.

At Newport Hospital, the Human Resources Department sends a congratulation card to each new parent with information on the Lactation Support program. This Baby-Friendly Hospital allows breastfeeding employees to utilize the maternity floor, where they have continual access to both a private room and a hospital-grade pump. Newport Hospital sponsors Lactation Consultant services for all breastfeeding employees and employees may attend 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. Its mother's room is a spacious lounge just outside their employee cafeteria with a sink and a refrigerator nearby, and employees have flexibility in their workday to use the room as needed. The Pawtucket Credit Union hopes that by establishing this mother's room, more employees will continue to breastfeed after returning to work.

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. The Raytheon IDS SCC has two designated breastfeeding rooms within the health center in the main building of their Portsmouth location and an additional room in another building on campus. These rooms have functioning sinks nearby and are monitored by the RN who runs the health center and is available to assist with room scheduling. Raytheon provides information on the benefits of breastfeeding to all employees and sponsors the services of a lactation consultant for their breastfeeding employees through their Employee Assistance Program.

Rhode Island Department of Admistration (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. The DOA has a clean, comfortable, and secure mother’s room with a refrigerator, magazines and nursing accessories available to pumping mothers. The DOA distributes its breastfeeding policy to all employees and promotes the benefits of breastfeeding and the availability of the room to all female employees, in addition to providing work schedule flexibility and on-site childcare that accommodates 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. HEALTH has 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. HEALTH also has a comprehensive policy that provides for a flexible work schedule and sets forth 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. While only 6% of their employees are females of child bearing age , RIEDC listened to their needs and set aside a conference room for working mothers to use as a Mother's Room, Each mother has her own key to the room and the mothers worked out a schedule that is convenient to all mothers using the room. There is a sink and refrigerator nearby and mothers do not have to use their breaks or lunchtime to pump.

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. The hospital has a written policy outlining organizational support for breastfeeding that it distributes to all employees along with information on the benefits of breastfeeding. Employees are allowed to bring young babies into work with them and clients are free to breastfeed in public spaces. The hospital has designated 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.

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. Although Women & Infants does not presently have a designated mother's room, employees may pump in one of the private family rooms in the nurseries or the nurse manager's office. The hospital offers work schedule flexibility, a refrigerator for storage of pumped milk, and a hospital grade electric breast pump for employees to use once they return to work. The hospital also 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.