Initiatives
Public Mothers’ Milk Bank
The Public Mothers’ Milk Bank provides pasteurized human milk to infants who require medical care because they were born preterm at 32 weeks’ gestation or earlier and whose mother cannot breastfeed, in neonatology centres across Quebec.
Each year, more than 400 premature babies are born in Québec, 5 to 6% of whom contract an illness called necrotizing enterocolitis, a serious intestinal illness associated with a high mortality rate. Recourse to mothers’ milk available through a bank reduces the risk of developing this disease by up to 3 times. Héma-Québec provides mothers’ milk to hospitals offering specialized care in neonatology for infants born premature at 32 weeks or less, and who cannot be breastfed by their mother.
The Héma-Québec Public Mothers’ Milk Bank is the only one in North America using a model that combines transformation and qualification activities for blood and mothers’ milk within a single establishment.
The Héma-Québec Foundation provided financial support for the feasibility study ($68,000) as well as the launch of the Public Mothers’ Milk Bank ($500,000).
We would like to thank the following donors who have made this project possible:
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Public breast milk bank
Goal
500 000$
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Héma-Québec Foundation
4045, Côte-Vertu boulevard
Saint-Laurent (Québec) H4R 2W7
Phone: 514 832-5000 # 5372
Fax: 514 904-3077
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