ILCA NEWS

Nominations Open for ILCA Board
Do you know of ILCA members with proven leadership skills who might be interested in serving with a dynamic group making a difference in our profession? We need energetic, visionary members who know how to build and work with a team, have good communication and diplomatic skills, have demonstrated commitment and global perspective and who know how to mentor other leaders.

The ILCA Board of Directors is seeking nominations of qualified members to run for the following board positions, 3-year terms to begin July 2009:
Director-at-Large: This board member oversees the ILCA Research Committee and ILCA’s accreditation activities.
Director of Marketing: This board member oversees the ILCA Marketing Committee and ILCA’s World Breastfeeding Week and IBCLC Day activities.
Director of Membership: This board member oversees the ILCA Membership Committee and works closely with ILCA’s Membership Coordinator on membership services.

All board members must be available to attend 3 board meetings per year and the annual ILCA conference. Board positions are volunteer positions and expenses to attend required meetings are reimbursed.

Deadline for applications is 15 October 2008.
To nominate someone, please complete the Nominations form. For more information, contact Becky Mannel, Chair, ILCA Nominations Committee, at rebeccamannel@ilca.org.

World Breastfeeding Week

Going for the Gold times two!

For those who celebrate in August, we hope your World Breastfeeding Week celebration was a success! We are now putting together a WBW '08 slide show. Please submit your photos along with a caption that tells what you did. If you are celebrating in October, send in your pictures after your event and they'll be included as well. If you need a photo release form, please contact Kendall Cox, the ILCA WBW Coordinator, at kendallcox@ilca.org.

ILCA Membership Renewals For 2009 Are Online Now!
Paying your ILCA dues online is easy and fast! As an added incentive, those who renew online will have their name entered in the drawing to be held on December 15, 2008 for a 2-night stay at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes, in Orlando, Florida where ILCA's 2009 conference takes place.

Donna Greer, winner of the 2008 prize of two nights at the Red Rock Resort, writes:

Wow! I was planning to attend the conference in Vegas anyway, but what a wonderful surprise when I received word that I had won two free nights at Red Rock just for renewing my ILCA membership online! What a treat; the hotel was beautiful, the conference a huge success AND I saved two nights expense which really helped. Thanks, ILCA!

Become a FILCA!
Just as "Fellow" is a designation of professional excellence in the health care field, FILCA recognizes career-long achievements of the leaders and mentors in the field of lactation consultancy. FILCA candidates are self-nominated, self-funded, and blindly evaluated by peers. All ILCA members who have achieved a high level of professionalism, demonstrated by meeting the independently-set criteria of continuous financial membership in ILCA for at least five years, recertification as IBCLC by IBLCE examination at ten or more years, personal and professional development of self and others, significant contribution to the field of lactation consulting, and volunteer commitment to ILCA, an ILCA Affiliate, or a Chapter within an Affiliate are eligible to apply for FILCA designation. If you believe you meet these criteria, you are encouraged to submit your application to become a 2009 FILCA. Applications are available on October 1, 2008, and must be submitted by December 31, 2008. More information can be found on the ILCA website at http://www.ilca.org/filca.html.

Executive Summary of ILCA Board Meeting Now Available
The Executive Summary of the Meeting of the ILCA Board of Directors, held in July 2008, is now available on the ILCA website on the Members Only side.

ILCA ‘Career Mart’ Listings Now Free of Charge
The Career Mart listings of employment positions may now be made free of charge, to better serve the professional growth of our members. If you have a listing or know of an organization looking to hire for a lactation-related opening, encourage them to download the Career Mart information at http://www.ilca.org/adoppor.html for maximum exposure to the pool of lactation professionals.

WABA Fellowship Awarded
The 2008 WABA Fellowship has been awarded to Johanna Bergerman of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Johanna is a public health nutritionist and lactation consultant for the Saskatoon Health Region. She attended the first WABA Global Forum in Bangkok, Thailand in 1996. She is a breastfeeding advocate locally, provincially and nationally. She is the chair of the Saskatchewan Lactation Consultant Organization. She is also the chair of the Breastfeeding Committee for Canada Infant Nutrition Committee that is presently working on developing standards and practice-based guidelines for complementary feeding. As a recent graduate of the Women and Gender program at the University of Saskatchewan, Johanna is very interested in breastfeeding as a gender issue and as a global transnational issue.

Johanna will be traveling to Penang, Malaysia to spend 6 to 12 weeks working at the WABA office on various projects, including attending the Core Partners meeting in early October.

Congratulation, Johanna!

Global Breastfeeding Challenge 2008
Women around the world will be putting their hands up to be counted on October 11th at 11:00 am local time. The Global Breastfeeding Challenge is a fun health promotion event looking for the most breastfeeding children at one site and the country with the most participants. In North America, the Challenge also tallies the largest number of participants in one area. Sites vary from one or two mothers to hundreds and every child counts.

This year the event has gone global, with sites in 24 countries registered so far. The challenge is a great way to continue the momentum of World Breastfeeding Week, whether you celebrate in August or October. For more information or to register a site, visit http://www.babyfriendly.ca.

The Global Breastfeeding Challenge is sponsored by the Quintessence Foundation and Baby Friendly Canada.

Congratulations 2008 MILCC Scholarship Winners!
By Anne Andrianos, MILCC Coordinator

An unprecedented number of candidates applied to Monetary Investment for Lactation Consultant Certification (MILCC) for financial assistance to take the International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) exam or to re-certify by CERPs. MILCC is pleased to announce that 63 individuals from 10 countries received awards. Scholarship decisions were made based on the criterion of serving a disadvantaged population that has limited access to the services of a lactation consultant. In this manner, MILCC is fulfilling the organizational goals of increasing the number of IBCLCs around the world, enhancing the profession through re-certification of IBCLCs and increasing the diversity of the profession.

Learn more about some of these winners. [more]

CALENDAR

October 1— 3
VELB/ILCA Conference, Vienna, Austria

FILCA Applications Open

October 15
Deadline for ILCA Board of Directors Nominations