BETTER MILK FOR PREEMIES
Methodist Children’s Hospital introduces donor breast milk program
PREMATURE BABIES
at Methodist Children’s Hospital,
a campus of Methodist Hospital, are benefiting from a
new program that allows mothers to donate their surplus
breast milk to a newly established milk bank. Potential
donors can go online to apply through a simple, hassle-
free process that ensures that infants born too soon re-
ceive the nutrition they need with
FirstSteps
donor milk.
“Breast milk is by far the gold standard when it comes
to nutrition for a newborn,” says
Alexander Kenton, MD,
neonatologist and newborn intensive care unit (NICU)
director at Methodist Children’s Hospital. “For premature
infants, evidence-based research shows breast milk offers
a superior diet that has never been duplicated in formula.
Compared to premature babies who are fed formula,
babies who are fed breast milk have a lower mortality
rate, a lower risk of infection, a lower risk of necrotizing
enterocolitis [NEC, or gangrene of the bowel] and leave
the hospital sooner. Having a donor milk bank provides
safe, nutritious human breast milk that will improve the
quality of care we deliver in the NICU.”
HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS
FirstSteps
donor milk
will be formulated into human milk nutritional products
and pasteurized using rigorous safety and quality test-
ing procedures. This will include a standardized milk
formulation for use in the NICU at Methodist Children’s
Hospital that will help meet the feeding requirements of
the hospitalized premature infants. The standardization
is significant since human breast milk is highly variable,
and Methodist will now be able to provide preemies in
their NICU with donor milk that has a precise amount of
calories and protein, enabling targeted nutrition to help
ensure appropriate growth.
The milk supply program was established in partner-
ship with Prolacta Bioscience to maintain a safe, stan-
dardized and steady supply of pasteurized donor breast
milk. Under this partnership, Prolacta manages the breast
milk donor qualification process by conducting health
screenings, blood testing and the milk collection process.
Prolacta’s high-tech manufacturing facility conducts safety
and quality testing before pasteurizing the human milk
products for in-hospital use.
Find out more about the
benefits of breastfeeding. Go to
Under the HealthSource
tab, click on “Health Library,” and then
type “breastfeeding” in the search box.
DONATE WITHOUT LEAVING YOUR HOME
Methodist
Children’s Hospital
FirstSteps
milk donor process is easy
and convenient. Moms will be able to donate without
leaving their homes, and the family doesn’t incur any out-
of-pocket expenses. The initial screening is done online;
a certified phlebotomist will come to the mother’s home
or office, and all of the storage and shipping supplies are
sent directly to the mom. Shipment pickup is then ar-
ranged so that the donating mother won’t be burdened
by having to drive the shipment coolers anywhere.
For many moms, this will come as a welcome option,
since many struggle with what to do with their extra
breast milk, and they will now be able to support pre-
mature infants in San Antonio, through a process made
easy and convenient by Prolacta.
BIG BENEFITS FOR BABIES
Growing evidence sup-
ports the health benefits of an exclusive breast milk diet
for premature infants in the NICU, as opposed to cow’s
milk-based nutrition or formula. A recent study pub-
lished in
e Journal of Pediatrics
is an example of this,
concluding that extremely premature infants who are fed
an exclusive human milk diet instead of preterm formula
have a significantly lower incidence of surgery associated
with NEC and require fewer days of intravenous feedings.
Prolacta is setting a new standard of safety and quality
in human milk collection, standardization and processing,
with a pharmaceutical-grade manufacturing facility that
is the first and only of its kind.
To learn how to become a donor, please visit
or call
855-34-5276
.
PATIENT PORTAL
YOUR RECORDS
AT YOUR
FINGERTIPS
METHODIST HEALTHCARE
now provides all adult
patients with free and secure online access to patient
records. The Patient Portal provides you with access to
information about your recent hospital visit through an
encrypted, password-protected login process.
Your time is valuable, and the Patient Portal makes
time-consuming tasks like retrieving lab results or other
information simple and fast. Using the Internet, you can
access personal health information so you can follow up
with your own doctors once you leave the hospital and
have easy access to any information you might need. The
Patient Portal gives you access to:
Allergies known.
Conditions you have.
Discharge summaries.
Discharge instructions.
Hospital visit histories.
Lab results.
Medications and instructions.
Upcoming hospital appointments.
Information in the Patient Portal will be posted with
authorization from your physician. Some information
in the portal may take up to 30 days after discharge to
finalize.
Best of all, the information is available to you anywhere
at your convenience. Whether at home, on vacation, at
the office or anywhere you have Internet access, you can
use your personal
computer, smart-
phone or tablet, such
as an iPad. You can
view the information
anytime. No more
waiting for results to
be mailed to you.
HOW TO ENROLL
If you’ve visited the hospital since
March 27, 2014, you can access the information listed
above. Enroll online by visiting the Methodist Healthcare
website:
At the very top of the page
is a link to the Patient Portal. Click on that link and then
the “New? Register Here!” button.
Enter your patient information (provided at registra-
tion) including your email address and Medical Record
Number. This number is required only the first time you
log in. If you need assistance, call Patient Portal Support
at
855-870-5350
.
To complete the enrollment process, log in to your
email account and open the Patient Portal Login email
sent from
. If you can’t
find the email in your inbox, check your spam/junk folder.
Click the Patient Portal link in the email, input your
temporary credentials and complete the Self-Enrollment
Questionnaire. Log out and log back in to Patient Por-
tal, this time using your newly created username and
password.
M e t h o d i s t H e a l t h c a r e
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