Selah’s Tree Top honored for welcoming breast-feeding mothers

SELAH – Tree Top Inc. has been recognized by local health care organizations for a record of supporting breast-feeding mothers employed at the company.

The Excellence in Breastfeeding Support award came last week from Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic in partnership with the Yakima Health Equity Forum, a student-run organization at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences.

“Employers like Tree Top, who go above and beyond to support breastfeeding in the workplace, deserve recognition for their efforts,” Farm Workers pediatrician Dr. Eric Burlingame said in a news release. “I look forward to other area employers learning about this important topic and finding other ways to innovate and help their employees and children be healthier.”

Health Equity Forum president Alana Muir, a second-year student at PNWU, said according to employees, Tree Top provides comfortable rooms to accommodate nursing mothers, as well as a flexible break schedule, maternity leave and health insurance that covers various breastfeeding supports.

The organizations sought nominations for the award from local employees this April through July.

Tree Top sets a strong example of employers helping women overcome barriers to breastfeeding after they return to work, Burlingame said.