Medela announces award recipients from November Virtual Human Milk Collection Campaign

Medela announced today the award recipients from its November Virtual Human Milk (breastmilk) Collection Campaign in honor of the March of Dimes' National Prematurity Awareness Month. More than 4,100 participated in the campaign, voting for their preferred Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Each of the following hospitals will receive $5,000 in neonatal human milk support products from Medela:

* Memorial Hospital at Gulfport, Gulfport, MS.

* St. John Medical Center, Tulsa, OK.

* The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA.

* University of New Mexico Hospital, Albuquerque, NM.

"We are very pleased with the participation in our Virtual Human Milk Collection Campaign. The intent was to help raise awareness of the importance of human milk which works like a medicine to help protect premature babies from many serious complications during and after their hospital stay," says Carolin Archibald, vice president, professional business at Medela Inc. "We're thrilled to be able to donate products to our award recipients that will support feeding more human milk and improving outcomes for their vulnerable patients."

Research shows the more human milk feedings, the better the health outcomes for the infant. Feeding more human milk rather than formula in the NICU has shown to reduce the length of hospital stay, reduce the days of oxygen therapy needed, reduce the incidence of late onset sepsis, Necrotizing Entercolitis (NEC), ear infections, serious respiratory tract infections and gastroenteritis.