Natividad Medical Center/ Perinatal Services Director Honored by Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition and Awarded Californian Children’s Services Community NICU Status

Natividad Medical Center was honored at the Annual Awards Luncheon “Promoting the Best from the Beginning” on August 2nd at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas by the Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Monterey County.

Natividad Perinatal Services Director, Judy Rasmussen, RNC, BSN, MA, was honored with the Community Impact Award under the category Workplace Impact, for her work in the promotion of breastfeeding at Natividad Medical Center.

Natividad Medical Center was chosen as a Mother/Baby Friendly Workplace because of the outstanding effort to provide lactation accommodation to employees returning to work after maternity leave. The Lactation Room, established on the second floor of the Barnet J Segal Outpatient building at Natividad, affords calm and privacy for mothers who wish to use a breast pump for ongoing breastfeeding of their newborns upon returning to work after maternity leave.

On July 31st the Children’s Medical Services Branch of the California Children’s Services Program (CCS) granted provisional approval of the Natividad neonatal intensive care unit as a CCS Community NICU.

Rasmussen states, “Being Monterey County’s official CCS Community NICU is something that our perinatal services staff has been working diligently to achieve. The added recognition from the Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition for our support of breastfeeding makes us very proud to be a part of this team and Natividad medical Center. We have many fiscal constraints, but have developed a first class Level 111 NICU and breastfeeding program and we are grateful to the community for it’s recognition of our efforts in the continuation of high quality care at Natividad Medical Center.

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