Rockland Health Department Receives Grant for Breast-Feeding

The Rockland Health Department was awarded a $1.2 million grant to fund the Creating Breastfeeding Friendly Communities project, according to lohud.com.

The project will span five years and will focus on educating and encouraging women in Ramapo and Clarkstown to breast-feed. While other towns will also reap these benefits, these two are especially important because they have a higher rate of low-income families and Medicaid recipients. 

The $1.2 million grant will allow these families to receive numerous care and information about the benefits of breast-feeding.

“It’s going to take the program into even more of a public health approach to changing the cultural norms of breast-feeding and really helping to reduce those barriers that women have to face when they return from the hospital to be able to be successful at breast-feeding,” said Laurie Messinger, the breast-feeding support and promotion program coordinator for Rockland County’s Department of Health, in an article on lohod.com.

Money from the grant will also go toward creating a breast-feeding coalition that will include over 20 community partners, including Nyack Hospital, Lower Hudson Valley Perinatal Network, and Child Care Resources of Rockland.