five-year maternal health action plan<\/a> that launched in March.<\/p>\nThe state is investing in programs that make pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period safer for Pennsylvania families. The effort funds community-based solutions to reduce maternal deaths, improve access to care, and close longstanding health disparities, especially in rural and underserved communities.<\/p>\n
The funds helped Nnamani bring in a lactation consultant, a social worker and complete renovations that made the facility more comfortable for moms and their newborns.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis room is spa-inspired,\u201d Dr. Nnamani said of the pink room lined with floor chairs for moms and a play mat for the babies to crawl around on. \u201cThis is Venango County, a lot of moms don\u2019t have that,\u201d Dr. Nnamani said.<\/p>\n
During a recent support group gathering, Hall said the women there have been instrumental in her early motherhood journey. The group taught her that breastfeeding can be uncomfortable, but generally it should not hurt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish someone had told me if it hurts, something is wrong, whether it’s the latch or maybe the baby has a tongue tie or maybe it’s not deep enough or whatever,\u201d she said. \u201cNobody told me that until I got here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The moms swap notes from the newborn trenches every week. Becca Kulus said without the group, she felt isolated as she learned how to care for her newborn.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t have anyone. My sister didn’t breastfeed. My mom did, but she has dementia, so I can’t talk to her about it. She doesn’t remember,\u201d she said. \u201cSo it was nice to have a place where I could come talk to people.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Kiley Koscinski<\/p>\n
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90.5 WESA <\/p>\n
Danielle Shaw, Ashley Hall and Becca Kulus sit in a circle with their infant sons at a recent breastfeeding support group gathering at Franklin Pediatric Associates. <\/p>\n
Danielle Shaw has been breastfeeding her 9-month-old Marshall since he was born. But she said it took a lot of trial and error and she didn\u2019t always have support at her finger tips. She was disappointed in the brief guidance she got on the way home from the hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like they just came in and they were like, \u2018Well, try a nipple shield, try this position, try that position,\u2019\u201d Shaw said. \u201cAnd none of it ended up working.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw brought her newborn to another lactation consultant in Erie, which is about an hour drive. She said she committed to breastfeeding for its benefits but also because the cost of formula was so high.<\/p>\n
Transportation is a significant barrier across Venango County, according to state data. Many of Dr. Nnamani\u2019s patients don\u2019t have a vehicle, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually have a lot of patients that walk to my office, which means from an operational standpoint, sometimes we have to double book because patients no-show,\u201d she said. \u201cSome days you don’t know what you’re going to get \u2026 30 patients on the schedule and have 18 patients show up.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than half of Nnamani\u2019s patients are on Medicaid, and looming cuts to coverage will make access harder for some families. Still, she\u2019s optimistic that the success of her lactation support program could inspire more rural clinics to do the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to do the work,\u201d Nnamani said. \u201cI think, really this is my mission in life right now. And I believe God’s going to make a way. So I’m just gonna keep at it and keep doing what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Learning to breastfeed is rarely as simple as holding an infant at the breast and letting nature do…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-248671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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