My name is LaKia Williams and I am a junior studying Neuroscience on the Pre-Medicine track. This is my second year in the Reproductive Rights and Reproductive Health internship, but my first semester at my new site, the New Orleans Breastfeeding Center (NOBC). Since beginning at NOBC I have been working on multiple projects including a Lactation Nutrition Care Plan for Vegans and Vegetarians, creating a one-pager on the benefits and risks of using an All Purpose Nipple Ointment (APNO), creating a report compiling training evaluations, creating a conference budget, and updating event flyers. The Lactation Nutrition Care Plan is a guide for breastfeeding parents that helps advise them on the nutrients they should consume and practices to have to ensure optimal milk volume and composition. This required reading the literature surrounding breastfeeding with dietary restrictions and compiling the data into a guide for breastfeeding parents on how to meet nutritional requirements or suggestions while maintaining a specific diet. For the APNO project I researched the benefits of the ointment as well as the side effects and created a cost analysis of making homemade APNO using ingredients. Purchased individually and purchased in bulk.
Interning at NOBC has exposed me to many different aspects of birthing and the postpartum period. This has been extremely helpful seeing as I am a future Obstetrician/Gynecologist. I have learned of different methods of breastfeeding, complications of breastfeeding, and surprising facts such as, people should still breastfeed even if they use opioids because the benefits of breastfeeding can outweigh the potential harm.
Aside from my internship at NOBC I am also the president of Students United for Reproductive Justice (SURJ). One of my supervisors at NOBC, Nurse Nikki Hunter Greenaway, agreed to be a panelist for the SURJ event: Career’s in Reproductive Justice Panel. The event was a great success, everyone enjoyed the panelists and their candidness. It was nice to have my internship combine with my work on campus.