After remodel, Oswego Hospital’s lactation room opens

OSWEGO — With a remodeling project complete, the lactation room at Oswego Hospital has reopened. 

Oswego Health has always had a designated lactation room at Oswego Hospital to allow employees to pump for breastfeeding while at work, but it needed some remodeling. 

So, Jessica Leaf, a registered nurse who also serves as director of women’s services at Oswego Health, and the Oswego Health Foundation pursued the project, per the organization’s news release. 

Norma and Jeff Barnes provided funding for the project along with the Children’s Board of Oswego and Oswego County OBGYN, Oswego Health said. Together, the donors provided $3,000 for the project that Oswego Hospital’s maintenance department handled, Jamie Leszczynski, senior director of communications at Oswego Health, tells CNYBJ in an email.

“I look back fondly at the support that I was personally given from some of the staff at the Oswego Hospital who helped and supported me as I breastfed my own children,” Norma Barnes said in the Oswego Health news release. “It is an honor for my husband and me to offer some help to new moms, or employees of the hospital, who need a safe, loving, and comfortable place to be able to provide their babies with what they need. Also, as co-president of the Oswego Children’s Board, I am happy to report that our members are very thankful that this lactation room is being developed and that we are pleased to provide additional financial support so that babies and moms will have a comfortable space to use in the future.”

Soon, the remodeled room will accommodate breastfeeding classes and one-on-one sessions for new mothers, Oswego Health said.