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The new milk depot is located in the National Park Medical Center.
National Park Medical Center Opens UAMS Milk Bank Depot
| LITTLE ROCK — National Park Medical Center, in support of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Milk Bank, has opened a milk depot in its medical center in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
National Park Medical Center’s milk depot is a designated space for women to donate milk, which will be sent to the UAMS Milk Bank for screening, pasteurization and nutritional analysis. After processing, milk will be sent to hospitals throughout Arkansas.
“National Park Medical Center is thrilled to be working with UAMS in supporting Arkansas’ mothers and babies,” said Ashley York, MSN, RN, director of Maternal Child Services for the National Park Medical Center. “Not only do we want dramatically expand this much needed service in our community, but we would also like to spread awareness on why babies need breast milk to thrive.”
The new milk depot is in National Park Medical Center’s Labor and Delivery unit, located at 1910 Malvern Ave. in Hot Springs, and is open seven days a week, 9 a.m.-8 p.m. If possible, please call 501-620-1280 to inform staff of an incoming visit.
The first facility of its kind in Arkansas, the UAMS Milk Bank helps ensure a ready supply of donor milk for sick and vulnerable infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) around the state, shortening the time it takes for regional hospitals to receive critical milk supplies and improving outcomes for babies.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with National Park Medical Center in Hot Springs to bring a UAMS Milk Bank Depot to the region,” said Misty L. Virmani, M.D., executive medical director of the UAMS Milk Bank, associate professor of pediatrics and neonatology and director of breastfeeding medicine. “Partnerships like this help us emphasize to our communities how important supporting breastfeeding is to the health of women and infants and particularly to the health of premature and vulnerable infants. These depots give families who are donating their milk an accessible place to drop off the milk and help the UAMS Milk Bank provide safe nutritious feedings to our NICUs all around our state.”
Previously, Arkansas hospitals relied on donor milk purchased from milk banks in Texas, Michigan, Illinois and Oklahoma, costing more than $1 million a year. In 2021, the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 225 establishing the creation of the milk bank and a special fund to help support the bank.
For information about how to donate milk to the UAMS Milk Bank, please visit uamshealth.com/uams-milk-bank. To contact the Milk Bank, please call 501-686-5355 or email milkbank@uams.edu.
National Park Medical Center (NPMC) has been providing quality healthcare to the Hot Springs, Arkansas, area since 1954, offering a wide range of inpatient, emergency and outpatient services. A 163-bed facility, NPMC is partially physician owned, Joint Commission accredited and Chest Pain accredited by the American College of Cardiology. Part of the Lifepoint Health family of hospitals, NPMC’s mission is making communities healthier.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,275 students, 890 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###