Breast milk donation center opens on Cleveland’s West side

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Mothers are helping other moms during tough times as another breast milk donation site opens up in Northeast Ohio.

OhioHealth Mothers’ Milk Bank has opened a drop site at the Neighborhood Family Practice at 3569 Ridge Road in Cleveland.

This is the second donation site that is now in Cleveland. There was already one on the East side called Greater Cleveland Pediatrics.

“This is the only one on the West side for now, so it is difficult to get across town to donate, so we ‘re just trying to minimize barriers so families who want to donate their milk, it’s one less thing that we have to do,” said Lauren Lasko, a nurse practitioner and the director of lactation medicine at Neighborhood Family Practice.

However, mothers can’t just drop off their milk. There is a screening process involved.

Mothers who are preapproved can bring their breast milk to Neighborhood Family Practice. They will store it here then ship it off to Columbus so the milk bank there can help premature and medically-fragile babies.

“We know that the benefits for human milk for those children are incredibly beneficial, so it’s our way of trying to give back to the community and let moms be able to contribute as well,” said Lasko.

The milk bank donates to hospitals in Ohio, but also works with other states in the region.

For more information about the OhioHealth Mothers’ Milk Bank, click here.

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