Your name: Katie Graves BSN, RN, IBCLC and Michelle Leahy MSN, RN, CLC
What organization are you with? Cass County Breastfeeding Coalition (Sarpy/Cass HD)
How does breastfeeding tie into your organization’s mission? The mission of the CC BFC is to provide all mothers and babies of Cass County with equitable access to breastfeeding care and services through collaboration and partnerships within our Cass County communities.
What work have you done to further support for breastfeeding families? The Sarpy/Cass Health Dept. has done numerous things in Cass County to enhance breastfeeding support. For example, we are the home of the Sarpy/Cass Baby Café that supports breastfeeding families in our communities. We have a breastfeeding resource lending library full of free resources for families and our professional partners. We are also in the process of developing a Community Breastfeeding Advocate training that will be available for those interested in learning more about how to support breastfeeding in the community. We provide free prenatal and breastfeeding classes. We also partner with our Cass and Sarpy early childhood programs to help educate and support pregnant women and their babies through home visitation.
The CC BFC is in its infancy stages, but motivated! One main theme that our coalition has agreed to prioritize is finding those “Breastfeeding Champions” within the Cass County community schools and businesses in order to help solidify community breastfeeding support.
How long have you been in existence? We started our coalition in January, so have been operating for 6 months. We have had 2 meetings so far.
How many members do you have? To date, we have had 11 stakeholders attend. Representation includes: Plattsmouth Chamber of Commerce, Children’s Physicians, Conestoga Schools, breastfeeding mothers in the Cass community, WIC peer counselor, Plattsmouth Early Childhood.
What type of work do you currently engage in? Currently, we are working on distributing the NE BFC “Breastfeeding Welcome Here” signs and window decals around Cass County to schools and businesses who agree to support breastfeeding.
Do you have any resources or projects that you would like to share? The community can find our information and breastfeeding supports on our Sarpy/Cass MCH page:
www.sarpycasshealthdepartment.org/maternal-and-child-health
Tell us an interesting facts about your organization or you: Katie Graves has lived in the Plattsmouth community for 19 years and has a passion for seeing breastfeeding support excel in Cass County.
