Binational Breastfeeding Coalition

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Look Who's Talking Lecture Series: April 30 Webinar Recap

Ms. Brooks is an internationally known author, lawyer, and speaker whose expertise is the legal and ethical aspects of providing lactation care. She has published books and many articles on these topics and can be found through her website lizbrooksibclc.com. This was a web-based professional educational training for El Paso County, Texas, and was also available worldwide to anyone with access to Wi-Fi. The Binational Breastfeeding Coalition (BBC) employed an interpreter for simultaneous interpretation into Spanish.

The two individual lectures that were given were:

  1. The Right Way To Say “You’re Wrong” (90 minutes)

  2. The Recipe for Discussing Formula Requests (90 minutes)

In total, 122 individuals attended the training in full and received credits. Those who completed the training also received 30-day access to a recording of the webinar, handouts and a Certificate of Completion. Of these 122 individuals, those providing services in El Paso County, Texas numbered 44.

These attendees broke down as follows: (keep in mind some may overlap)

  • 88 Board Certified Lactation Consultants and Certified Counselors

  • 46 Registered Nurses and Licensed Professional Nurses

  • 12 Community Health Workers

  • 8 Dietitians

  • 3 Medical Doctors

The question and answer sessions following each lecture were lively and entertaining with many questions pertaining to the Baby Friendly 10 Steps and to the ethics of formula provision in the hospital. Many attendees were from Mexico, and there were over 10 US states and 4 countries represented among the attendees.

The BBC has gained a reputation of providing high quality, low cost lectures over the past four years and has built a following. As this was the 10th year anniversary of BBC, to celebrate we charged $10 for registration. The BBC worked with the following professional organizations to offer continuing education credits:

  • IBLCE, International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners: This organization provides credits for Lactation Consultants, and in this case provided 3 ethics credits, known as E-Cerps.

  • Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: This organization provides credits for dietitians and in this case provided 3 Continuing Professional Education Credits.

  • University Medical Center of El Paso: This organization provided 3 Contact Hours for nurses.

In addition, many organizations worked with BBC to provide a variety of support, and we thank them all with deep gratitude. Among the organizations were:

  • American Heart Association

  • El Paso Public Health WIC Program

  • El Jardin Birth and Family Resource Center

  • El Paso Health