Public health seeks Harvey County proclamation to promote breastfeeding; commissioners request language edits

Harvey County Health Department staff proposed a proclamation on Aug. 26 recognizing community support for breastfeeding and the county’s participation in the Breastfeeding Welcome Here program; commissioners asked for wording changes before adoption.

Lynette Reddington, representing the Health Department and the local Board of Health, presented a draft proclamation adapted from the Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition template and requested correction of a title typo. She said the county’s breastfeeding initiation rate is “in the eighties” and noted the county has 50 public establishments participating in the ‘Breastfeeding Welcome Here’ program and an identified childcare provider with a breastfeeding‑friendly designation.

Several commissioners and meeting participants expressed concerns with specific language in the state template referencing breastfeeding coalitions “led by and for families of color” and other phrases some commissioners said introduced ideological language they did not want the county to endorse. One commissioner said portions of the Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition website included material they found objectionable and asked the county to avoid endorsing those positions.

Reddington said the template came from the Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition and that she would remove the line referencing ‘‘led by and for families of color’’ and return the proclamation in a revised form. She defended keeping a factual reference to Healthy People 2030 data in the proclamation as a national public health data source used for community health planning.

Commissioners asked staff to exchange proposed edits over the coming week, include county administration on the revisions and present the revised proclamation at the next meeting. Reddington also noted the county’s drug court graduations and other public health activity in her department report.