Three Network hospitals chosen to take part in a national project on breastfeeding

Bathurst, September 4, 2019 – The Campbellton Regional Hospital, Chaleur Regional Hospital (Bathurst) and Edmundston Regional Hospital have recently been selected to participate in a national project supporting the Baby-Friendly Initiative (BFI), which encourages the promotion, protection and support of breastfeeding.

This project stems from a five-year strategy of the Public Health Agency of Canada intended to revive and extend the deployment of the BFI across Canadian hospitals. “Several hospitals in the province were invited to apply to be among the 25 facilities selected by the national committee. Thankfully, all three of our applications were chosen,” stated Lyne Bujold, Regional Director of Mother/Child Services for Vitalité Health Network. “We are very proud to have high-level support to get our ‘Baby-Friendly’ designation, as the breastfeeding rates are significantly lower in New Brunswick than in several other provinces,” she added.

According to recent figures from the collaborative project, only 21 hospitals in Canada have been designated “Baby-Friendly”, none of which are in New Brunswick. During this two-and-a-half-year commitment, the three Network hospitals will need to go through cultural and practice changes to align with the strategies and objectives required by the BFI, as only those facilities that successfully meet this challenge can proudly display their official “Baby-Friendly” designation.
“We realize that this is a substantial challenge, but we are confident that we can become pioneers and achieve a first for our province,” indicated Marie-Christine Friolet, BFI Coordinator, adding that this Canadian initiative officially began in June 2019.

As for the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre (UHC), it was unfortunately unable to meet the project application deadline. However, Ms. Friolet stresses that the Regional BFI Committee will invite the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont UHC to attend the various meetings to be held with the three hospitals chosen for this project.