Acelleron Medical Products Announces Recent Opening of Human Milk Depot
Acelleron Medical Products, a durable medical equipment (DME) company acquired by Preferred Home Health Care and Nursing Services, Eatontown, N.J, recently opened a human milk depot, the first in Pennsylvania, in partnership with Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast (MMBNE). Acelleron is known throughout the Northeast as a leading breast pump provider that provides home medical devices primarily for maternal and respiratory health.
Women from Pennsylvania and New Jersey will now be able to drop off their milk at the Acelleron depot, 3331 Street Road, Suite 440, Bensalem, Pennsylvania, for shipment to Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast.
A milk depot is a community location where screened milk donors can drop off milk for shipment to a milk bank. The milk bank collects milk from mothers who have more milk than their babies need; screens, pasteurizes, and tests the milk; and then dispenses it primarily to premature and sick babies whose mothers do not have enough milk for them.
With the opening of Bensalem location, MMBNE now has fourteen depots in seven states throughout the Northeast, including depots at Acelleron offices in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Kristen Quinn, lactation counselor for Acelleron’s Maternal Health Division, said, “After seeing how many NICU babies our Connecticut and Massachusetts milk depots were able to support, I felt compelled to expand the efforts of this project into the Pennsylvania and New Jersey region where I am based. As a lactation professional and a new mom, I feel connected to the families that have babies in need of donor milk.”
Naomi Bar-Yam, Ph.D., executive director of Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast, said, “We encourage mothers who have milk they want to share to consider donating it. The presence of this new milk depot at Acelleron Medical Products will increase awareness of the importance of breastfeeding and donating milk. We hope that the depot will also provide an opportunity for mothers to network with one another about this unique, lifesaving gift.”
Hightstown, New Jersey, mother Leah Conte, who donated milk on the opening day of the depot, said, “Having a premature child is a life-altering event, one that often I felt little control over. Being able to pump and share my breastmilk gave me a feeling of empowerment and purpose. It is so exciting to know that a new depot has opened. It will be an incredible resource to families.”
Milk donor screening, modeled after blood donor screening, includes health history, physician approval, and a blood test, some of the many measures taken to ensure the safety of milk for the fragile premature and sick babies served by MMBNE and the hospitals that use the milk. Milk from mothers who pass the screening is also pasteurized and tested by an independent lab to ensure safety before being dispensed to hospitals or families.
Human milk can be lifesaving for preterm infants. It is especially protective against a life-threatening condition called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), which affects one in ten of the smallest preterm infants. Human breastmilk is estimated to lower the risk of this condition by 79 percent. It also lowers hospital costs by reducing costs for care and shortening hospital stays.
Donor milk is rapidly becoming the standard supplement to mothers’ milk for preterm infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). In addition, an increasing number of community hospitals with regular and special care nurseries use donor milk when babies need a supplement to their mothers’ own milk.
The first-ever Human Milk World Record, sponsored by Acelleron Medical Products, was set August in 2014 when 121 babies received human milk from 242 participants at the MommyCon 2014 Convention in Boston. Participants came from all over the United States, and from as far away as San Diego, California.
Mothers who wish to donate milk at the depot can review guidelines on the milk bank website, www.milkbankne.org/donate, and then contact a Donor Intake Coordinator for screening at 617-527-6263 Ext. 3 or donate@milkbankne.org. Approved donors can then drop off milk at the new depot by contacting Kristen Quinn from Acelleron Medical Products at 267-972-8008 or kquinn@acelleron.com.
About Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast (MMBNE): MMBNE is a nonprofit community milk bank accredited by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA). Since 2011 MMBNE has been screening donors, pasteurizing milk, and dispensing to over 80 hospitals and to families throughout the Northeastern United States, including over a dozen hospitals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
About Acelleron Medical Products: Acelleron Medical Products, a home medical device provider based in North Andover, Massachusetts, helps children and expecting mothers obtain respiratory equipment, maternal health products and services. In 2013, Preferred Home Health Care & Nursing Services, Inc. acquired the company, which led to an expansion into Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In just four years, Acelleron has gone from being one of the largest providers of pediatric nebulizers in New England to becoming a true destination for expecting mothers from Maine to Pennsylvania. Acelleron is committed to proving the best resources to empower women so that they can achieve success in parenthood, starting in the early days of pregnancy with quality education and breastfeeding support.