Award highlights breastfeeding among safety net NICUs in California

LANCASTER, Calif., — Antelope Valley Medical Center (AVMC) is honored to announce that its Level IIIB Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) has been awarded the 2025 California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative (CPQCC), Ten Point Nine QI Team Award for its outstanding commitment to quality improvement and lactation support for NICU families.

“This award speaks highly about the work you do for patients and families,” said Courtney Breault, MSN, RN, CPHQ, Associate Director of Quality, CPQCC, Stanford Medicine. “You go beyond the limits of your NICU with regards to improvement efforts. It is a positive contribution that deserves our recognition.”

This award stemmed from an initiative led by CPQCC to promote breastfeeding among Safety Net NICUs in California. The goal was to build quality improvement capacity and to better understand the factors that differentiate these safety net NICUs and the care they provide. AVMC’s NICU leadership and improvement efforts in the following areas led to this prestigious award:

Serving a vast geographic area with limited resources, demonstrating unparalleled dedication, creativity, and compassion in caring for a diverse patient population, including a considerable percentage of Spanish-speaking families, and those facing homelessness or substance abuse challenges.

The team focused on colostrum and lactation check-ins with families with very low birth weight infants, demonstrating an incredible dedication to quality improvement.

Implemented creative solutions to encourage breastfeeding by recognizing the critical importance of breastfeeding for the health and well-being of newborns, particularly those in the NICU, the team has implemented several innovative initiatives to support and encourage mother.

Leveraging Cerner electronic medical record (EMR) system to enhance the quality and efficiency of care. The NICU team created workflows and a handoff checklist within Cerner to streamline patient information flow, ensure accurate and timely documentation to facilitate interdisciplinary communication.

Fostering human connections: Amidst the challenges of a data-driven healthcare environment, the AVMC NICU team remained steadfastly committed to building genuine human connections with their patients and families.

“We’re extremely proud of our NICU team,” said Edward Mirzabegian, Chief Executive Officer, Antelope Valley Medical Center. “By focusing on the family as a whole, and providing full interdisciplinary support to our NICU mothers, our team is making a lasting impression on our tiniest patients.”

To learn more about Antelope Valley Medical Center’s Level IIIB Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, visit www.avmc.org/NICU

Picture caption: Women and Infants Pavilion, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit staff and leadership.