By BRADLEY ZINT

Mirror Writer

Now in its third year, the nationally recognized Kodiak Kindness program at Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center (PKIMC) helps mothers with breast-feeding their newborns and provides nutritional information so babies start a healthy young life.

The program also caused PKIMC to surpass the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ “Healthy People 2010” breast-feeding objectives. The department’s goal is to increase to 75 percent the number of mothers nationwide who breast-feed their babies. Medical consensus is natural breast milk is best for newborns.

Coordinating Kodiak Kindness is Heather Preece, a lactation consultant and pediatric dietician. Her total staff consists of three paraprofessionals, including one who speaks Tagalog and another who speaks Spanish. A group of three to four volunteers, who are past participants of Kodiak Kindness, helps the staff.

“I’ve never had to advertise for volunteers. It’s amazing,” Preece said.

The program has always been free to mothers and families, thanks to a grant from an anonymous Kodiak donor and funds from Providence. Prior to the donation, when the program started in 2006, it was funded through a three-year grant from the Children’s Miracle Network.

Kodiak Kindness staffers provide assistance — even house calls — for up to 18 months. Their 24-hour cell phone hotline is dubbed the “warm line.”

Kodiak Kindness representatives approach all new mothers, offering enrollment in the service. The hospital also offers mothers a packet of information and a breast pump.

More than 90 percent of those offered Kodiak Kindness services choose to enroll.

“One of the best-selling points is that they don’t have to do anything,” Preece said. “They don’t have to go anywhere. We call them and visit them at their homes, if necessary. We individualize our services.”

Preece modeled Kodiak Kindness after similar ideas in the USDA’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, which provides peer counseling and breast-feeding help.

“I took seeds of ideas from that,” Preece said. “I individualized it for Kodiak and wanted to make it as comprehensive as possible.”

Preece said she is most proud the service comes at no cost to the many participants.

“Every mom needs support, whether it’s her first baby or her fourth baby, for feeding and getting off to the right start.”

Preece said she feels the program works well for a small community like Kodiak due to several reasons: It has a manageable caseload, with an average of 175 on-island births a year; there are easy, short commutes for house calls; and Kodiak Kindness has enough resources to meet demand.

“I don’t think we could pull this off in a bigger place, honestly,” Preece said. “It’s labor-intensive to do home visits and follow moms and be available for any questions about their baby’s growth and feeding — especially for first-time mothers.”

Ever since the American Hospital Association published a story about Kodiak Kindness in its biweekly newsletter, Preece said the piece generated interest from the Lower 48. She fields e-mails and calls from people rgarding how the program became a success in small-town Alaska.

Preece even gets calls from past participants who have since moved.

“It’s amazing how many calls I get from the Lower 48 from Coast Guard families who move down, have another baby and cannot find anything to what we’re providing here in Kodiak. So they call us.”

Thirteen staffers have come through the program in its three years.

“More than half have since moved off the island and have carried their training and kindness skills with them,” Preece said. “They are now starting or at least doing the similar kind of work, wherever they’ve gone to.”

Angela Padgett, a Kodiak Kindness volunteer and employee at a local Kodiak clinic, has been with the program for a year and a half. She enjoys being there for mothers in stressful situations in “a program that helps mothers ask for help, where they might not otherwise.”

She said the best aspect of volunteering is “definitely the interaction with the community, and being able to reach out to so many people.”

The volunteering keeps her active year round. She said she couldn’t quite pinpoint a favorite moment because there are so many.

“The program is designed to be that way all the time,” Padgett said. “Being able to help moms and their babies is really an incredible feeling.”

Kodiak Kindness participant Nicole Wike had her baby girl, Ava, seven months ago. She is in a Coast Guard family and said Preece has been very beneficial to everyone.

“She’s come to the house multiple times … she’s (even) come Sundays at 8 o’clock. She’s been willing to come, whenever I call,” Wike said.

The program has helped her overcome obstacles.

“I probably would’ve quit breast-feeding it weren’t for her,” Wike said. “Initially, it was very difficult, and she was willing to come over whenever I needed her … I can’t say enough good things about that program. We’re very lucky to have it here.”