The Fishers Health Department and The Milk Bank celebrated the opening of Fishers’ first Milk Depot and Milk Express today, creating a new local resource for families to donate and access donor human milk.
Pasteurized donor milk is one of the most effective tools for preventing complications in medically fragile infants. By expanding donor milk access in Fishers, the partnership supports healthier starts to life, reduces barriers for families and helps more infants thrive during the most vulnerable days of life.
The Milk Depot and Milk Express are now open to the public at the Fishers Health Department inside the Fishers Community Center, located at 11400 Johnson Farm Way, Fishers. The Milk Depot provides a local drop-off site for approved donors, while the Milk Express gives parents and caregivers a convenient place to pick up donor milk ordered through The Milk Bank.
“Expanding access to health resources is a key part of how we support the needs of a growing and changing community,” said Monica Heltz, Director of the Fishers Health Department. “By bringing both milk donation and pick-up services to Fishers for the first time, we’re removing barriers for families and helping give our youngest residents a healthy start.”
“Expanding access to health resources is a key part of how we support the needs of a growing and changing community. By bringing both milk donation and pick-up services to Fishers for the first time, we’re removing barriers for families and helping give our youngest residents a healthy start.”
Monica Heltz, Director of the Fishers Health Department
The Milk Depot accepts frozen breast milk from approved donors of The Milk Bank. Donations collected at the Fishers Health Department are transported to The Milk Bank, where the milk is processed, analyzed, pasteurized and distributed to hospitals and families in need, including premature and medically fragile babies in NICUs. The Milk Bank dispenses more than 700,000 ounces of pasteurized donor human milk each year and has provided more than 17.9 million feedings since 2005.
The Milk Express allows parents and caregivers to pick up pasteurized donor human milk ordered through The Milk Bank. Donor milk may be used as a medical treatment, to bridge a gap during the early postpartum period or to support breastfeeding goals.
Milk Express pick-ups for orders placed through The Milk Bank, along with approved donor drop-offs, are available Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with extended hours on Thursdays until 7 p.m. and select Saturdays. Milk Express orders are coordinated directly through The Milk Bank.
“Families in Fishers now have local access to both a Milk Depot and Milk Express, removing barriers and making it easier than ever for parents to donate life-saving milk and for vulnerable infants to receive it,” said Freedom Kolb, CEO of The Milk Bank. “By bringing both services together in one convenient location, this partnership ensures more babies have access to the nutrition they need to survive and thrive.”
“Families in Fishers now have local access to both a Milk Depot and Milk Express, removing barriers and making it easier than ever for parents to donate life-saving milk and for vulnerable infants to receive it. By bringing both services together in one convenient location, this partnership ensures more babies have access to the nutrition they need to survive and thrive.”
Freedom Kolb, CEO of The Milk Bank
For more information on how to place an order for pasteurized donor human milk or become an approved milk donor, contact The Milk Bank at 317-536-1670 or visit themilkbank.org.
