Saline Memorial Hospital opens UAMS Milk Bank Depot

LITTLE ROCK — Saline Memorial Hospital, in support of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Milk Bank, has opened a milk depot in Benton.

The new milk depot is a designated space for women to donate milk, which will be sent to the UAMS Milk Bank for screening, pasteurization and nutritional analysis. After processing, milk will be sent, according to need, to hospitals throughout Arkansas. Before making a donation, donors must complete an initial screening through the UAMS Milk Bank.

“Our new milk depot makes it easy for moms in our community to help support sick and vulnerable babies here in Saline County and throughout the state,” said Brynn Doddridge, RN, director of the Women & Infants unit. “Providing safe donor milk is an important step toward helping infants get off to the best possible start in life.”

The new milk depot is located in the Women & Infants unit on the third floor of the main hospital building at 1 Medical Park Drive, in Benton, and is open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saline Memorial Hospital encourages donors to call 501-776-6300 prior to making a milk donation.

The first facility of its kind in Arkansas, the UAMS Milk Bank helps ensure a ready supply of donor milk for sick and vulnerable infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) around the state, shortening the time it takes for regional hospitals to receive critical milk supplies and improving outcomes for babies.

“We are very happy to partner with Saline Memorial in opening a UAMS milk depot because breastfeeding is so important to the health of women and infants, and we are thrilled to find partners in the state who are helping support families who want to breastfeed,” said Misty L. Virmani, M.D., executive medical director of the UAMS Milk Bank, associate professor of pediatrics and neonatology and director of breastfeeding medicine.

“Our depots are easily accessible drop off sites positioned around the state for women who are generously donating their extra milk to the UAMS Milk Bank,” she added. “Human milk is so very important for keeping premature and vulnerable newborns healthy and our depots and the champions for families like Saline Memorial help us in our mission to support healthy mothers and infants in our great state.”

Previously, Arkansas hospitals relied on donor milk purchased from milk banks in Texas, Michigan, Illinois and Oklahoma, costing more than $1 million a year. In 2021, the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 225 establishing the creation of the milk bank and a special fund to help support the bank.

More information about how to donate milk to the UAMS Milk Bank is available at uamshealth.com/uams-milk-bank, via phone at 501-686-5355 or via email at milkbank@uams.edu.

About Saline Memorial Hospital

Saline Health System, a part of Lifepoint Health, is made up of Saline Memorial Hospital, a 177-bed acute care facility, and Saline Clinics, a network of both primary care and specialty care clinics. The hospital is accredited through The Joint Commission for meeting quality and safety standards, the American College of Cardiology as a Chest Pain Center with Primary PCI, the MBSAQUIP as a bariatric surgery center, Optum in the Bariatric Centers of Excellence network, CARF as a rehabilitation center and the AASM as a sleep center. For more information about Saline Memorial Hospital, please call 501.776.6000 or visit SalineMemorial.org. For more information about Lifepoint Health, visit LifepointHealth.net.

About UAMS

UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,275 students, 890 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.