Mother’s Milk of Tennessee Partners with Cookeville Regional Medical Center to Open the 20th Milk Drop Depot

Mothers’ Milk Bank of Tennessee announces a formal partnership with Cookeville Regional Medical Center to become the organization’s 20th Milk Drop Depot in the state. The Milk Drop Depot at The Birthing Center at Cookeville Regional will provide a convenient place for pre-screened and approved milk donors to donate their frozen milk to Mothers’ Milk Bank of Tennessee.

“We are grateful to have the Milk Drop Depot here at Cookeville Regional Medical Center in our Birthing Center as a resource to families in our region,” said Amy Rich, Chief Nursing Officer at Cookeville Regional. “The Milk Drop Depot opens Tuesday, August 13, officially at the Birthing Center, and we look forward to being a closer drop-off location for milk donations.”

Currently, donors in the Upper Cumberland Region must travel to the Metro-Nashville area or Knoxville to donate their excess breast milk.

“The opening of the states’ 20^th Milk Drop Depot at Cookeville Regional Medical Center will allow Mothers’ Milk Bank of Tennessee to better serve our approved donors in the Upper Cumberland area,” said, Susan Campbell, MD, IBCLC, and Executive Director of Mothers’ Milk Bank of Tennessee. “Mothers’ Milk Bank of Tennessee is the only nonprofit milk bank. The organization relies on support from the entire state to further advance our mission to serve all the NICU babies in Tennessee in need of human donor milk and support breastfeeding mothers.”

Donations received at Cookeville Regional will be transported to Mothers’ Milk Bank of Tennessee’s facility located in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Mothers’ Milk Bank of Tennessee is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit milk bank dedicated to providing safe, pasteurized donor human milk to the most vulnerable babies. The organization filters, mixes, bottles, pasteurizes, and cultures donated breastmilk from approved donors before distributing the donor milk to neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in Tennessee.

To become an approved breastmilk donor, visit www.milkbanktn.org.

Pictured: Front row from the left is Amy Rich, Chief Nursing Officer at CRMC; Dr. Apryl Hall, pediatric hospitalist with Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt; Tracy McMahon, RN, State Depot Director at Mothers’ Milk Bank of Tennessee; Teresa Bowman, daughter; Holly Bowman holding baby Clara, first donor to the milk depot at CRMC; Kelsie Maynard, RN, lactation nurse; Hannah Bray, RN, lactation nurse; Hayley Bradley, RN, lactation nurse; Buffy Key, Chief Executive Officer at CRMC; and Tommye Rena Wells, Chief Financial Officer at CRMC. Back row, from the left, is Sarah Brown, Diana Health practice manager; Dr. Susan Campbell, Executive Director at Mothers’ Milk Bank of Tennessee;  Lyndsy Walker, APRN, certified nurse midwife at Diana Health; Lauren Billings, community engagement manager at Diana Health; and Erin Hedgecoth, director of the Birthing Center at CRMC.