...continued from the cover
TEAMPROVIDENCE: It’s All About People
So, I encourage you today. Pick one or two descriptors from the list above and work them into your
vocabulary. As we do this together, I believe we will notice our actions and behaviors following our words—
especially as we welcome one another in our hallways. Joyful and authentic greetings can go a long way...
after all, we’re together more waking hours in a work week than we are with our own family. Remember, it’s all
about people. So, which descriptor will you pick for today?
Providence Named one of 22 Texas Hospitals Chosen to
Continue Initiative to Improve Breastfeeding Rates
*from the Texas Breastfeeding Learning Collaborative Initiative Press Release
Breastfeeding is one
of the most effective
preventive health measures
for infants and mothers.
Despite the many benefits
of breastfeeding, only 14.5
percent of Texas mothers
exclusively breastfeed for six
months. To help reverse this
trend, 22 hospitals/facilities in eastern Texas were
selected to expand the work started in northern
Texas last January by being part of a five-year
quality improvement project aimed at improving
facility environments to support a mother’s choice
to breastfeed.
The Texas Ten Step Star Achiever Breastfeeding
Learning Collaborative aims to help facilities create
settings where a woman’s choice concerning
breastfeeding can be best supported, with the goal
of increasing exclusive breastfeeding. Started in
2012, the collaborative has worked with 20 hospitals
(cohort A) in northern Texas. The improvements in
12 months have been significant.1
Educated on Pacifier Use: 35% increase
(8,160 more mothers educated)
Rooming In: 40% increase
(6,240 more infants rooming in)
Skin-to-Skin Contact after Vaginal Birth:
38% increase (6,240 more infants going skin to skin)
Prenatal Education: 52% increase
(5,760 more mothers receiving documented
prenatal education)
Exclusive Breastfeeding Rates: 6% increase (1,140
more infants being exclusively breastfed at discharge)
12 • The Pulse of Providence
The effort is being led by National Initiative for
Children’s Healthcare Quality (NICHQ )and is funded
by the Texas Department of State Health Services
(DSHS) Nutrition Services Section (Texas WIC). Up to
81 facilities, segmented into three cohorts based
on the state’s designate