The Milk Bank Expanding Into N. Ind. With Warsaw Location
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Staff Report-
The Milk Bank, a nonprofit serving Neonatal Intensive Care Units across the Midwest, is now expanding into Northern Indiana with a Warsaw location so more families can be part of its lifesaving mission. The bank is opening a new milk depot at the Kosciusko County WIC in Warsaw Monday, according to a provided press release. This will allow approved donor mothers in the area to drop off their milk donations, which are then sent to The Milk Bank’s pasteurization facility in Indianapolis and distributed to NICUs across the region. When a milk depot is not geographically convenient for a donor, they must package and ship their donations to The Milk Bank. The release states The Milk Bank, an HMBANA-affiliated nonprofit milk bank, improves health outcomes for premature and ill infants. They are the first and only donor human milk bank in Indiana, and they operate by receiving human milk from carefully screened donors, pasteurizing, freezing, testing for sterility then distributing it throughout the United States. With 45 drop-off locations throughout the Midwest, The Milk Bank has received milk donations from 30 states and supplied donor milk to over 100 hospitals in 28 states. “We are thrilled to open a milk depot to welcome more Indiana mothers to our mission,” said Janice O’Rourke, executive director of The Milk Bank. “When more mothers are aware of how easy the milk donation process is and how they can be a part of our life-saving missing, more infants will benefit.” The Kosciusko County WIC depot’s official opening is Monday at 10 a.m. at 515 Provident Dr., #120, Warsaw. It will include a ribbon cutting and remarks from Kosciusko Community Hospital and Kosciusko County WIC, Cardinal Services Inc. and The Milk Bank on the benefits of breastfeeding and importance of donor milk. The Milk Bank, formerly the Indiana Mothers’ Milk Bank, pasteurizes and screens breast milk from fully screened and approved mothers and to be sent to Neonatal Intensive Care Units in hospitals throughout the Midwest. They have depot locations in five states and have been in existence since 2005. The Milk Bank is a member of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America.
