Anna Griffin, a columnist for the Oregonian, wrote today about our mission to get the zoo to provide a nursing room. The column can be found here. It highlighted the fact that while the zoo claims to be "very friendly toward nursing mothers", it considers being friendly the fact that it allows us to use their first aid rooms to nurse. Anna learned while visiting the zoo, that not only is there nothing that informs mothers about the fact that the first aid are available, but the staff is really not educated or informed about how "friendly" they are towards mothers.
What really disappointed me, however, was Oregon Zoo Director Tony Vecchio's response regarding the nursing room. He stated that they, "are using every square foot of the zoo. The idea of providing rooms that will be empty 99 percent of the time just isn't realistic. Plus, honestly, this is not something that seems to be an issue for many mothers."
Ummm, empty 99 percent of the time? What? Clearly he has not been to any of the facilities that provide nursing rooms! Additionally, the fact that he said it was not something that is an issue for many mothers shows how out of touch he is with the many nursing mothers who frequent the zoo. Plus, I would like to compare it to the bride's room that the zoo has for weddings at the zoo. Whether it is "an out-of-the-way women's restroom" or not, are we to assume that this is used frequently? I assume Mr. Vecchio was including it when he stated that they are "using every square foot of the zoo".
When we met with Carmen Hannold and discussed the fact that more mothers would frequent the zoo and stay longer while at the zoo if they provided a nursing room, she stated that all nursing mothers are zoo members. Now Tony Vecchio is stating that a lack of a nursing room is not an issue for many mothers. Clearly it shows that the zoo believes that we nursing mothers will come anyway, so they do not need to do anything to help create a better and safer environment for nursing.
It is obvious that it is really not true that that zoo is, "willing to discuss options. And certainly with the $125 million bond measure, this would be a good time to have those discussions" regarding adding a nursing room, as zoo spokesman Bill La Marche stated in Noelle Crombie's article (found here).
The article showed me that we have a long way to go in our efforts to get the zoo to provide a nursing room. It is too bad that they do not consider this a priority.
Showing posts with label Oregonian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oregonian. Show all posts
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Good news comes with Bad News
If you are checking in to see where we are at, I called the Deputy Director of Operations at the zoo on Monday to follow-up on our letter requesting a meeting. Voicemail, urg, left a message, and still have not heard back. Sara and I will be contacting Bill (see the Omamas article) to continue the conversation. We’ll definitely keep you posted!
The bad news is that I was at a small mom’s gathering in Hillsboro on Saturday night. I (of course) mentioned the blog and mission. One of the moms commented, “Oh, I was nursing my baby there last year when a zoo employee came out and told me I had to move!”
I gasped. “Are you serious?”
“Yes. Maybe it was because I was on a bench outside of the farm where there were classes going on, I don’t know . . .”
Oh, that is soooo not good for so many reasons. I don’t need to list all of them here – we all know them. But the most important one to mention is that the law is on our side. We have the right to nurse in public – and this zoo employee was way out of line. It sealed the deal for us that the zoo most desperately NEEDS at least one nursing room on zoo grounds. NOT a first aid room that doubles as a nursing room, but an official space dedicated to nursing moms with their children.
Stay tuned. . . . .
The bad news is that I was at a small mom’s gathering in Hillsboro on Saturday night. I (of course) mentioned the blog and mission. One of the moms commented, “Oh, I was nursing my baby there last year when a zoo employee came out and told me I had to move!”
I gasped. “Are you serious?”
“Yes. Maybe it was because I was on a bench outside of the farm where there were classes going on, I don’t know . . .”
Oh, that is soooo not good for so many reasons. I don’t need to list all of them here – we all know them. But the most important one to mention is that the law is on our side. We have the right to nurse in public – and this zoo employee was way out of line. It sealed the deal for us that the zoo most desperately NEEDS at least one nursing room on zoo grounds. NOT a first aid room that doubles as a nursing room, but an official space dedicated to nursing moms with their children.
Stay tuned. . . . .
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Mamas on a Mission is in the news!
On Monday, I spoke with Noelle Crombie, a journalist for the Oregonian and one of the authors of Omamas, the Oregonians parenting blog located on their Oregonlive.com website. It is a wonderful site, written by mamas, for mamas. You can find the article she wrote about our mission to get the Oregon Zoo to add a nursing room here!
Although we have not yet heard from the zoo in regards to our letter requesting a meeting, from Noelle's article, it sounds like they expressed interest in meeting with us about creating a nursing room! Amy is planning on following up with the zoo today regarding our meeting request, since it has been two weeks since we sent the letter. I hope she will be able to share some good news!
Although we have not yet heard from the zoo in regards to our letter requesting a meeting, from Noelle's article, it sounds like they expressed interest in meeting with us about creating a nursing room! Amy is planning on following up with the zoo today regarding our meeting request, since it has been two weeks since we sent the letter. I hope she will be able to share some good news!
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