From Dr. Sarah Jolley, KBC Chair
So much has happened (and also not happened) since our last KBC Update was sent at the end of March! I helped my children finish up the school year from home while also working from home. I’m sure some of you can relate to that experience! While some of you can relate to working from home and/or taking care of children, I’m also sure there are some of you who have lost jobs or been furloughed. Still others of you are frontline or essential workers and have continued working, possibly even working extra during this time. COVID-19 is a situation unlike any most of us have ever faced, and each of us is likely dealing with changes and struggles we didn’t see coming. As experts work to understand the virus and its impact, each of us work to adjust to the changes we’ve seen in our everyday lives.
These are challenging and stressful times. In addition to COVID-19, the murder of George Floyd is yet another event that highlights the systemic racism that is prevalent in our country. Racism is a public health issue, and the disparities we see in things like COVID-19 deaths and in breastfeeding outcomes provide evidence of that. The KBC, along with our members and partners such as the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, remains committed to addressing racial and ethnic disparities in breastfeeding rates. We believe the following will be essential in that work:
- Increasing access to lactation support providers of color
- Supporting community-centered, culturally relevant mother-to-mother breastfeeding support clubs
- Supporting breastfeeding coalitions and organizations led by people of color
While our in-person listening tour dates originally scheduled for this month have been postponed, we are still focused on listening. We are listening to deepen our collective understanding of the impact of racism on breastfeeding. Please share your stories, experiences, thoughts, and insights about breastfeeding in Kansas here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ThoughtsBreastfeeding
. We are hopeful that our in-person listening tour will be able to happen in the fall (with additional precautions in place as needed), and we would love to see you at one of those events. Until then, we would encourage you to share with us through our online platform (
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ThoughtsBreastfeeding
) and/or feel free to reach out to us directly at
info@ksbreastfeeding.org
Thank you!