Community paramedics joined representatives from a nonprofit donor human milk bank Monday to cut the ribbon on a milk depot at the Crawfordsville Fire Department Paramedicine Center.
The Community Paramedicine Program partnered with The Milk Bank to provide a site for approved donor mothers to drop off frozen surplus breast milk, which is sent away to be pasteurized and distributed to neonatal intensive care units. It is the first milk depot at a fire department.
“This affords us an opportunity to provide breastmilk for any babies that may not have that opportunity. It also provides us an opportunity for our mothers who are breastfeeding to be able to be able to provide for other children in need,” said Darren Forman, a community paramedic who coordinates the Project Swaddle program.
The depot will be more convenient for donors, who don’t always have close access to a dropoff site, said Sarah Long, clinical director for the Milk Bank.
The other nearest depots are in Lafayette, Lebanon and Danville, Indiana. The organization has established nearly 60 sites at hospitals, doctor’s offices and blood centers.
“It’s just having more and more places embedded where the families are at,” Long said.
The Milk Bank distributes milk to 65 hospitals mostly across Indiana.
For more information about becoming a donor, contact The Milk Bank at 317-536-1670 or visit www.themilkbank.org/donatemilk.
