Nonprofit human milk bank opening in Lowcountry

South Carolina’s first nonprofit human milk bank is opening in the Lowcountry, and a Columbia hospital is participating.

A grand opening ceremony was held in North Charleston on Thursday at the Mothers’ Milk Bank of South Carolina. It will provide breast milk to very low birth-weight babies who are in neonatal intensive care units in larger hospitals, the organization said in a statement.

Mothers will be able to donate milk at sites throughout the state and the milk will be frozen and shipped to the milk bank. The milk will be shared at five regional hospitals, including Palmetto Health Richland, the Greenville Health System, Spartanburg Regional Hospital, McLeod Health Hospital in Florence and the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

Palmetto Health changed it relationship with an out-of-state program to join the Mothers’ Milk Bank, hospital spokeswoman Tammie Epps said.

Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia is evaluating whether it would use the new bank’s services, spokeswoman Jennifer Wilson said. The hospital uses donor services, but has not decided whether to include Mothers’ Milk Bank.

The bank is a partnership between the South Carolina Birth Outcomes Initiative, the state Neonatology Consortium and MUSC.

This story was originally published April 30, 2015 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Nonprofit human milk bank opening in Lowcountry."