August is National Breastfeeding Month, and the Upstate Cancer Center is welcoming nursing moms back to work with a private space to support their need to breastfeed. The lactation pod, installed this spring, was made possible by donors to the Upstate Cancer Center Annual Fund, administered by the Upstate Foundation.

With this new lactation pod, there are now more than a dozen sites and spaces acrosss Upstate's campus that accommodate breast milk expression for employees and students.

“Following our successful capital campaign to help build the Cancer Center, the Upstate Foundation conducts a yearly campaign to support unmet patient needs and other initiatives not covered in the Cancer Center’s budget,” said Eileen Pezzi, vice president for development at Upstate. “Cancer Center administrators approached us with a request for funding because the lactation pod was considered an important priority for their employees.”

The lactation pod for employees is located on the third floor of the Cancer Center. It is a private locking booth with electrical outlets to accommodate a breast pump; there's also an app that lets employees check whether the pod is available.

Nurse navigator Jocelyn Kladek, RN, led the efforts to bring a lactation space to the Cancer Center. 

“When I first started here in the Cancer Center, I was still nursing and pumping, and at that time the closest dedicated space for this was in the children’s hospital,” she said.

Kladek continued, “One day I went to the mall on a weekend, and I saw a pod in the mall, and I thought this is genius, this is exactly what we need. I brought the idea to my colleague Molly to see what we can do.”

Nurse manager Molly MacLachlan MSN, RN, said, “I’ve been a pediatric nurse my whole career. One of the things we promote heavily is breastfeeding. We know that  breastfeeding is healthiest for mom and baby, and we need to make that easy and accommodate that for our nursing staff, many of whom are women of childbearing age.”

MacLachlan credits the current Cancer Center administration for making a priority for employees. 

“I think advocating for this for the staff was important,” she said. “You should be able to have your career but also prioritize your family. Anything we can do as an employer to make that easier for the women who work here is huge.”

Kladek says it’s uplifting to know that her efforts will make a difference for today’s staff. She recalls how stressful it was for her back in the day. 

“It’s the stress of having a busy day in clinic and having to step away for up to an hour while my coworkers picked up the slack, but also at the same time knowing that this is what I’m choosing for my baby and I know that it is important,” she explained. “If you can shave 20 minutes off that time and still allow mom to pump for an effective period, that’s what it’s about.”

Caption: Upstate Cancer Center employees and expectant mothers Lauren Wilbur, RN, and Megan Muller, RN, outside the new lactation pod, located on the third floor of the center.