state grants

For many families nationwide, formula is not an option. So, whether by force or choice, many parents and guardians turn to breast milk.However, some say it has become a sort of commodity to find.The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services says human breast milk is the preferred form of nutrients for newborn babies.Kerrie Gottschall is the manager of the only breast milk bank in the state of North Carolina, Wake Med Mothers Milk Bank. She says breast milk contains “lifesaving nutrition” for premature and sick babies in the NICU.Wake Med serves families and hospitals not only here in North Carolina but across the entire Southeastern United States.That’s 55 hospitals across Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Alabama.With such a high demand, Gottschall says supply and access are issues they face every day.After receiving a grant, the state is expanding its Donor Milk Program, partnering with Wake Med to open five new donation depots across the Tar Heel State, in the areas that need it most.They hope this will make it easier for families to not only get the necessary food for their babies but potentially help other families do so.”Before this program, we just had depots in Wake Med facilities, so basically just Wake County. And we would send anyone who lived outside Wake County a cooler to ship their milk back to us,” Gottschall said.Gottschall says they are opening depots in some of the identified high-demand areas, including Cumberland, Jackson and Pasquotank counties. They hope this will help bridge the accessibility gap that currently exists.The nonprofit says they are also opening depots in areas they have identified having high donor rates, including Durham, Wake and Mecklenburg counties.Winston-Salem mom of four Olivia Overfield said that she is glad milk banks are becoming more accessible across the state. However, after a string of emergency surgeries took away her ability to breastfeed, she says she could not access one when she really needed it.”I didn’t want to take her off of breastmilk, and I had looked into a couple of the breast milk banks that are nearby and everything was waitlisted,” Overfield said.She resorted to the kindness of strangers on social media, meeting up with moms who were willing to give her some of their extra milk.”It was late-night drives and Walmart parking lot pickups,” she said. “I was able to get multiple women to rally together and not only donate breast milk but keep it on retainer for me.”Another mother of four, Esther Chavez Patata, said she has breastfed all four of her children. Shes currently breastfeeding her youngest son and says she still has a freezer full of extra milk.After hearing about moms like Overfield on social media, Chavez Patata found Wake Med Milk Bank. She currently donates about 100 to 200 ounces every other week via courier.”It’s nice to feel that what you’re doing is not only helping your kid, but it’s helping others,” she said.Ultimately, these moms say that expansion will help increase supply and curb demand for both donors and recipients alike.Though they also say while more depots will create more access, there are still plenty of gaps to fill across the state, including the Winston-Salem area and others in the Triad.Gottschall says they hope this is just the start of making breast milk more accessible to all babies that need it here in North Carolina.