Washington and Linn Counties Recognized for Breastfeeding Peer Support Programs
Please join CLHO in congratulating Washington County Public Health and Linn County Public Health for earning WIC Breastfeeding Awards of Excellence for their breastfeeding peer support programs! The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced these awards in August in alignment with National Breastfeeding Awareness Week.
Washington County’s Breastfeed Peer Counseling Program has a team of two - Barbara Esparza, the program’s bilingual Peer Counselor and Jeanette Lopez, the program’s Coordinator and Public Health Lactation Consultant. This team manages an average caseload of just under 500 clients. The program includes classes each month (two offered in English and one in Spanish), monthly contacts with participants, and a warm line for participants who need real-time support.
“I am proud of our program because it is small but run so well and efficiently,” says Tara Olson, WIC Program Supervisor. “Our team is very good at connecting with people and offering the support and encouragement new families need.”
The program is housed under the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program at Washington County. The team works with WIC staff and home visiting programs to enroll any pregnant person interested in breastfeeding in the program.
“The first week of breastfeeding is the hardest, so we try to connect with people during the prenatal period as much as possible to set them up for success,” says Olson.
Olson hopes to expand the program and identify different ways to serve new parents in Washington County.
“We are reaching out to partners and assessing gaps and barriers to understand what additional support we can offer,” Olson says. “For example, we see racial disparities for breastfeeding initiation and duration among the Black and African American community. We also see a decrease in exclusively breastfeeding around six months postpartum for all program participants. We want to know why that is happening. If it is because of work, we could offer more education and support about breastfeeding laws or the upcoming paid parental leave act.”
Olson also hopes to bring partners together to expand the lactation support workforce in Washington County. One goal is to form a breastfeeding coalition that can host training, recruit more people into the workforce, and support professional development.
Linn County’s Breastfeeding Peer Counseling program has a team of four - Megan Dunn, Lactation Consultant and Breastfeeding Peer Counseling Coordinator; Shelby Sayer Cameron, Peer Counselor for Linn County; Anely Mendoza, Peer Counselor for Lincoln County; and Leah Brunson, WIC Coordinator. The program began in-person counseling in 2010 and has been adapting and expanding ever since.
“We are fortunate to have support in our county for breastfeeding,” says Brunson, WIC Coordinator. “Federal funding has been limited and hasn’t covered the entire cost of the program, but our Board of Commissioners approves a tax levy every year to fund the rest.”
The average caseload for the program is around 200 clients, who receive evidence-based support through texting, blog posts, and classes with peers from the pre-natal period through one year postpartum. The number of people in the program doubled in 2020 from some process changes.
“We used to take people off the program if they didn’t contact us back,” says Brunson. “We’ve changed that with the understanding that people still benefit from receiving the information even if they don’t have the time to respond.”
Linn County also recently solved a 20-year barrier in billing for lactation services. With that resolved, peer counselors can refer clients who need more support to Dunn for in-house lactation consulting, providing clients with a participant-centered experience within the health department.
“The Peer Counseling program is constantly evolving,” says Dunn, Breastfeeding Peer Counseling Coordinator. “Peer support offers an essential layer of protection for families facing the huge changes that come from welcoming a new child into the family. The program has shifted many times over the years to meet the changing needs and desires of our participants. We are responsive to the kind of care families want today.”
Linn County recently received additional funding from the USDA for an expansion pilot. With these resources, they’ve been able to hire Mendoza to provide peer counseling in Lincoln County and are in the process of expanding to new areas of the state.
“Breastfeeding Peer Counseling programs require an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) to be on staff, and that is a barrier for many counties,” says Brunson. “With Megan coordinating the program expansion as a strong leader with a clinical background in lactation, we hope to have peer counselors in multiple parts of the state while Megan provides mentoring and support.”
Linn County’s program staff also leads the Linn Benton Lincoln Breastfeeding Coalition. This group includes nearly 150 members, from health care providers at local clinics and hospitals, Headstart, WIC and home-visiting staff from each county, and a variety of other partners. Brunson, Dunn, and Sayer Cameron all serve as board members of this coalition, and Dunn extends the reach of Linn County’s educational materials by also sharing them through the Coalition.
Congratulations to both Washington County WIC and Linn County WIC - we are excited to see your programs grow and serve more Oregon families!