Celebrating Walter Reed’s Re-Designation
When Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland (the “President’s Hospital”) was redesignated Baby-Friendly for another five years in March of 2024, one member of BFUSA’s staff was particularly pleased to hear the news.
Heather Simons, RN, IBCLC, who joined BFUSA as a Clinical Review Specialist in September 2023, had worked as a Lactation Consultant at Walter Reed for the previous six years. She and her colleague, Monica Brannon, BSN, RNC-MNN, IBCLC, had led the facility through its redesignation assessment, after which Heather left for her new position at BFUSA.
“I was speaking to Monica the other day and I asked if they had done anything to thank the staff,” says Heather.
Heather took it upon herself to celebrate the staff by bringing a cake to Walter Reed for all to enjoy.
“Monica and the lactation team and the nurses worked so hard to get redesignated,” she says.
Walter Reed is one of three military facilities currently Baby-Friendly designated in the United States. The other two are Alexander T. Augusta Military Medical Center in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and Naval Hospital Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Florida.
These facilities stand as proof that it’s possible for a military facility to achieve and then sustain Baby-Friendly designation. Monica and Heather understand well the extraordinary challenges of this unique work environment.
“Part of our challenge is that there’s so much turnover because military personnel are stationed here for two or three years and then they move on, from top leadership all the way down,” says Monica. “So we have a constant process of staff training and educating our senior leadership about Baby-Friendly.”
“There are also more hoops to jump through at a military facility,” adds Heather. “For example, any policy change needs to be sent up the chain and it sometimes takes as long as two years to get approvals. Things tend to move very slowly.”
Despite these challenges, Monica and Heather are proud to have contributed to Walter Reed’s sustained success with Baby-Friendly.
“We had really outstanding exclusive breastfeeding rates,” says Heather. “Over the six years I was there, we were always at 80% to 90% exclusivity, and even our NICU rates for human milk were pretty high.”
Monica agrees, believing Walter Reed’s unique patient population values the consistency Baby-Friendly offers from pre-natal education through to post-partum care.
“Baby-Friendly provides the education and support for every single birthing family,” she says. “Any family who wants to provide human milk for their babies, I hope to be able to help them achieve that — and Baby-Friendly provides the structure and accountability our population needs.”
