Submitted

The Gove County Medical Center has received a grant from the Kansas Health Foundation to fund the “B.E.S.T.T. Start: Breastfeeding Essentials Support Thriving Together,” an outpatient lactation clinic.

The lactation clinic will provide education and support for infants and breastfeeding mothers including nutritional information, physical and emotional support and assistance with challenges of breastfeeding. Resources such as books and videos will be available in addition to consultations. The clinic will be open for women at any stage of their breastfeeding journey.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Center for Disease Control recommend that infants should be exclusively breastfed through the first six months of life. Numerous benefits for mother and baby occur as a result of breastfeeding. These advantages are short and long term, extending into adulthood for infants, and into menopause and beyond for mothers.

“We are very fortunate to have received this grant as this will enable us to have a lactation clinic and provide support to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of future generations,” said Coleen Tummons, Gove County Medical Center CEO.

For more information about the Kansas Health Foundation, visit www.kansashealth.org.