Senator Ossoff working on lactation space mandate for VA facilities
According to Senator Jon Ossoff, some VA facilities don't have a designated space for mothers to breastfeed. He's hoping to change that through legislation.
DUBLIN, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The need to breastfeed can sometimes come up when you least expect it, including at VA facilities.
According to Senator Jon Ossoff, some VA facilities don’t have a designated space for mothers to breastfeed. He’s hoping to change that through legislation.
“I’ve spoken with mothers of young children, and those mothers are veterans,” Senator Ossoff said. “They’ve expressed their frustration that there are not private breastfeeding spaces at VA facilities, so I think this is a problem that’s important to solve for veteran moms. I think it’s a problem we can solve, and that’s why I’m working on it.”
The legislation he’s pushing for would require VA facilities to set aside a space for nursing mothers, including employees, patients or visitors.
The Carl Vinson VA in Dublin is already ahead of the potential requirement.
Debbie Mullis is the Women Veteran Program Manager for the Carl Vinson VA. She says they’ve had the space available for years.
“There’s a chair they can sit in, an exam table they can actually lean back and sit a little more comfortably in,” Mullis said. “But they also have a refrigerator, so they can use that to put their breast milk in. And they also have a cabinet where if the employees needed to keep their breast pumps stored and not have to bring it back and forth.”
Senator Ossoff shares his thoughts on the lactation space already being available for nursing mothers in Dublin.
“I think it’s great that the Dublin VA is moving in that direction and has shown leadership here,” he said. “I’m sure there are lessons learned from what they’ve done for other VA facilities.”
According to Mullis, the Carl Vinson VA isn’t the only Georgia VA facility to have lactation space available.
“Our newer clinics also have that space available,” Mullis said. “The Macon Clinic, the Tifton Clinic, both of them already have that space. The clinics that don’t have a designated space, we’ll actually work with a team to see how we can meet the need in the interim, because space is kind of limited in some of those clinics.”
Senator Ossoff is working to gather more bipartisan support for the legislation, which would increase the likelihood of the bill passing.
If you visit the Dublin VA and need a place to breastfeed, you can ask a staff member to direct you to Women’s Health.
