WARWICK – Kent County Memorial Hospital was recently redesignated as a Baby-Friendly Birth Facility by Baby-Friendly USA Inc.
The distinction is awarded to facilities that offer breastfeeding education before, during and after childbirth, and promote policies such as skin-to-skin bonding with mother and baby immediately after childbirth, as well as keeping mothers and newborns in the same room in preparation for going home.
Baby-Friendly USA is the accrediting body and national authority for the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative in the United States, a global program launched by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund to encourage the broad-scale implementation of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.
Charlton Memorial Hospital, Women & Infants Hospital, Newport Hospital and South County Hospital are also among the 605 facilities nationwide to have earned the recognition.
“Kent Hospital’s Baby-Friendly USA Re-Designation Award lets the community know that our hospital supports breastfeeding for optimum infant nourishment. At Kent Hospital, our patients always come first and that is especially true for those just beginning their lives,” said Paari Gopalakrishnan, president and chief operating officer, Kent Hospital.
Claudia Chiappa is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Chiappa@PBN.com.
