PRMC providing milk center

CLOVIS — Plains Regional Medical Center is providing a human milk donation and outreach center that will allow lactating mothers to donate excess breast milk to assist other nursing babies, PRMC announced in a news release.

The program “provides a safe way for women in our area to donate their breast milk and know that it will be used to provide nourishment for babies who need it,” Kimberly Barnes, women’s care manager at PRMC, said in the news release.

Donors can bring milk donations to PRMC to be transported to a facility in Colorado, where it will be pasteurized, tested and analyzed, then distributed across the country for babies whose mothers cannot supply enough milk for their needs, according to the news release.

A donation screening form and more information is available at http://www.milkbankcolorado.org or by calling 303-869-1888.

The program is a partnership with Mothers’ Milk Bank, a Colorado-based nonprofit program benefiting women and babies nationwide. PRMC is the second facility in the state to provide this service, the news release sated.

The partnership builds on PRMC’s designation as a Baby-Friendly facility by Baby-Friendly USA, which encourage breastfeeding.

The hospital is also moving toward being able to offer donor milk to new mothers, according to the news release.