Response to Valerie McClain's blog posts

Well this morning it feels quite like a drive-by shooting. Blogger Valerie McClain again is posting about me, implying a lack of clarity around my involvement in various human milk-related activities.

I'm going to let the he-said, she-said continue over on Valerie's blog - the pacing over there is a little slow, so you'll have to wait for my specific response (heh, like everyone is hanging on with bated breath... as Valerie so rightly notes we all have jobs and families and lives here...)

I am going to clarify two things here in my own blog space, because Valerie continues to make assertions based on erroneous assumptions and I don't have the ability to reply in real time on Valerie's blog, as her comments are moderated.

1)  I was a volunteer for Human Milk 4 Human Babies (HM4HB.)  I use the past-tense here and I used it in my first comment replying to Valerie because I am no longer a volunteer for Human Milk 4 Human Babies - I have moved on to other volunteer pursuits. I do sit on a committee working on the first annual World Milksharing Week which is an initiative of HM4HB. There are others on that committee who are also not part of HM4HB - our goal is to celebrate milksharing and to promote human milk as the biologically normal nourishment for babies and children. Also, while I was a volunteer with HM4HB I set up an internal working group to explore the relationship between HM4HB and milk banks. HM4HB is a global network and is active in a number of countries where there are milk banks. I still am involved in that working group - right now it is at the very beginning of its work, which is to gather information about milk banks around the world.

2) I have never done any volunteer PR work for HMBANA. I have never been a paid employee of Human Milk Banking Association for North America (HMBANA). I have, however, worked towards reestablishing our milk banks here in Alberta, and from time to time I have had contact with HMBANA people, seeking advice and information and support for our efforts. To that end I once attended a HMBANA conference, in San Jose, in 2003. I paid for that trip out of my own pocket.

Want to know more? If you feel like writing about me, or about any of my involvements, please check your facts, and you can email me at jchase@mediaworkswest.com if you want to ask me questions.