By Allison Weissert
The Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Council (DEIA) within Program Executive Office – Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors (PEO IEW&S) solicited the workforce for feedback and identified that the nursing mother facilities could be improved. The issue immediately got full attention and command support. Holly Travers, Security Specialist for PEO IEW&S within the Operations Directorate and Nursing Room advocate said, “Once the decision was made to provide a space for nursing mothers, we had the full support of PEO IEW&S Chief of Staff, Kyle Perkins, and Director of Operations, Noel Osborne.”
“I am proud that PEO IEW&S was able to support and provide a convenient and comfortable space for nursing mothers,” said Perkins. “Our mission was extremely focused on creating a space that is functional, well-equipped but is also calming. I definitely believe we hit the mark and truly appreciate the effort of all the teammates that worked diligently to make this room a reality.”
Members of the DEIA Council discovered a need and an opportunity to provide nursing mothers, who work at building 6006 on the C5ISR campus at Aberdeen Proving Ground, an updated, tranquil place to express breast milk. In recent years, new state and federal laws protecting nursing mothers, have allowed for more reasonable break times and required employers to provide a clean and private space for breastfeeding moms. Studies show that investing in lactation spaces with exceptional accommodations encourage women to continue breastfeeding for the benefit of the child, which in turn increases morale, confidence and possibly the employee’s work productivity.
Sandra Gaston, Chief of Operations and Plans for Project Manager Sensors-Aerial Intelligence (PM SAI) found a temporary location within their spaces while the search and construction for the permanent location took place. Travers created a working group with representatives from each of the PM’s and identified all the facilities where PEO IEW&S has a footprint and asked for a POC from each of the PMs to participate in that working group to gather information.
Travers contacted Robyn Nadolny, Chief of Vector-Borne Disease Branch, Defense Centers for Public Health – Aberdeen and nursing room advocate, for her advice. Nadolny co-wrote her organization’s Lactation Room Policy, “Establishing and implementing a successful Nursing Mother’s Program”. The policy states the following points that a nursing mother’s program could achieve:
- Reduce staff turnover and loss of skilled workers after the birth of a child.
- Reduce sick time/personal leave for breastfeeding women to attend to their babies.
- Foster higher job productivity, employee satisfaction, and morale.
- Add recruitment incentives for women.
- Enhance [any organization]’s reputation as an organization concerned with adopting business practices that improves the welfare of its personnel and their Families.
- Potentially lower healthcare cost associated with healthier breastfed babies.
- Higher productivity, and morale.
Nadolny said, “I think all of the above reasons for ensuring robust lactation policies are in place could not be more relevant. When an organization truly embraces diversity, that added diversity of thought means an enhanced ability to surmount obstacles and solve tough problems, something military organizations do every day. By ensuring working mothers are not only included but embraced, we gain every benefit of having those tough, smart, and persistent individuals back in the workforce. As a former nursing mother, I wanted to make sure that the breastfeeding individuals that came after me were made to feel valued professionally while also having their choice to nurse their children honored and respected.”
The room is fully equipped with amenities most requested by nursing mothers. Travers said, “the vision for this is that they will have a full refrigerator with a freezer, which is very important for making sure they can bring an ice pack, and have it stay frozen so they can be confident they maintain proper temperature when they go home, which is something that a mini fridge may not accommodate. There are lockers so mothers can actually bring in their supplies and not have to carry them back and forth every time they’re coming to the room. For privacy purposes, this is very nice for new moms because not everyone is going to be comfortable telling their coworkers they are going to pump.”
A microwave is included to enable sterilization of supplies. Sturdy tables for equipment, comfortable chairs, a white board and space for photos complete the picture. There are two partitioned sections where each can be reserved through a reservation system, which is maintained by Gaston. Information about reserving the space or questions about it is available through each organization.
Perkins described the project saying, “This was a total team effort. In addition to Holly and Sandra’s dedication and hard work on the project, Lori Hummel, Creative Sciences Lead, designed a space that would be aesthetically pleasing, while adhering to the requested functionality. Dave Mullins, Business Operations Analyst, helped with the carpet and painting logistics. Nicole Cawthern, Event Coordinator, guided the ribbon cutting and Mac Mcclarin, HQ Current/Future Operation Branch Chief contributed to purchasing. Finally, we appreciate all the lactation coordinators throughout the PEO who volunteer to be points of contact for our nursing mothers.”
During a ribbon cutting held on March 5th, Brig. Gen. Ed Barker, PEO IEW&S, presented Gaston with a certificate of appreciation for her contribution to the project and acknowledged all those involved.
Maj. CJ Estelle, Assistant Product Manager for TITAN, Project Manager Intelligence Systems & Analytics, is a nursing mother and previewed the space. She expressed her excitement saying, “This is a game-changer for me and improves my workday. I was pumping in my car yesterday. This room is convenient, clean, close-by, and makes coming into the building to work accommodating. I appreciate the effort that went into this.”