November 21, 2006

St. Luke's Community Medical Center - The Woodlands designated a "Texas Ten Step Facility"

St. Luke's demonstrates high level of breastfeeding-friendly practices
related to those of WHO/UNICEF Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative
to improve health of newborns & infants.

St. Luke's Community Medical Center (CMC) – The Woodlands has been designated a "Texas Ten Step Facility" by The Texas Department of State Health Services.

The hospital achieved certification for meeting the highest level of criteria for having implemented breastfeeding friendly policies, protocols, and practices that are very closely related to those outlined in the WHO/UNICEF Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, and reflect evidenced-based best practices. The St. Luke's Family Birthing Center and NICU staff have taken breastfeeding training that includes the advantages of breastfeeding, anatomy and physiology of breastfeeding, how to solve common breastfeeding problems, and the impact of introducing formula and pacifiers before breastfeeding is established.

A growing number of facilities have taken a giant step towards improving the health of newborns and infants by earning the Texas Ten Step designation from the Department of State Health Services and the Texas Hospital Association.

The Texas Ten Step Program encourages breastfeeding as the preferred method of feeding newborns and infants. As designated facilities, these hospitals and birth centers are now teaching new mothers that breastfeeding is the best nutritional choice to improve their baby's health. The individual facilities can be found on the web site http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/wichd/lactate/TXfact.shtm#item6

Through the use of ten goals or “steps,” the program aims to help facilities support breastfeeding mothers before, during, and after delivery; encourage facilities to identify breastfeeding resources for the mother after she is discharged; and encourage facilities to reach the Texas Breastfeeding Initiative's goal of having 75 percent of their mothers breastfeeding before they go home with their newborn.

St. Luke's CMC – The Woodlands is located at 17200 St. Luke's Way in The Woodlands, at the southwest corner of SH 242 and I-45. For more information about St. Luke's CMC – The Woodlands, please call (936) 266-2000 or visit www.stlukeswoodlands.com .

St. Luke's Episcopal Health System comprises the flagship St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, founded in 1954 by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas; St. Luke's Community Medical Center–The Woodlands, opened in 2003; St. Luke's Episcopal Health Charities, a charity devoted to assessing and enhancing community health, especially among the underserved; and Kelsey-Seybold Management, LLP, overseeing 21 area clinic locations. St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital is home to the Texas Heart® Institute, founded in 1962 by Denton A. Cooley, MD, and consistently ranked among the top 10 cardiology and heart surgery centers in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Affiliated with several nursing schools and two medical schools, St. Luke's serves as the primary private adult teaching hospital for Baylor College of Medicine. St. Luke's was the first hospital in Texas named a Magnet hospital for nursing excellence, and the Health System has been recognized by FORTUNE as among “100 Best Companies to Work For” (2002, 2004 and 2005) and by Houston Business Journal as a top employer in Houston for three consecutive years.