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Pensacola, Fla.— Today, State Surgeon General and Secretary of Health Dr. John Armstrong visited Escambia County to highlight Sacred Heart Hospital as part of the Health in All Places Tour. The hospital is one of only 10 in the state to receive the Baby Friendly Designation for striving to promote breastfeeding. The event featured a number of hospital and county health department staff who continue to collaborate to increase the number of mothers who successfully breastfeed in the Escambia-County area.

The Baby Friendly Award is given by Baby-Friendly USA and is awarded to hospitals that meet the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding criteria listed on the Baby-Friendly USA website. The purpose of the campaign is to promote breastfeeding as a vital health activity as well as encourage breastfeeding friendly communities throughout the state of Florida. Breastfeeding is the preferred method of feeding infants and is supported by the Florida Department of Health as well as major health organizations such as the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Health in All Places Tour is a chance for state, local and community leaders to come together to highlight what each coastal county has to offer when it comes to health. County Health Departments are located in each county and are charged with promoting health and providing necessary health services to their communities. This tour is a chance to highlight those services and how they move health forward in communities across Florida.

The department is offering free, broadcast-quality video for use by the media from this event. You’ll find 40 seconds of video followed by an interview at the FTP link https://ww10.doh.state.fl.us/pub/dohcomm/HIAP_ESCAMBIA.mp4. Below is a suggested script followed by verbatim from the soundbytes.

SACRED HEART HOSPITAL IS BEING HIGHLIGHTED BY THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AS PART OF THE “HEALTH IN ALL PLACES TOUR.” TODAY, STATE SURGEON GENERAL AND SECRETARY OF HEALTH DOCTOR JOHN ARMSTRONG JOINED COMMUNITY LEADERS AND HOSPITAL STAFF AS THEY RECOGNIZED SACRED HEART AS ONE OF ONLY 10 BABY FRIENDLY HOSPITALS IN THE STATE.

NAME: Henry Stovall/President, Sacred Heart Hospital

LENGTH: 27

OC: “in the state”

“Every day our staff, physicians, nurses, support people come to work wanting to do the very best for these babies and children and they believe they are and their evidence of hard work shows that but to hear the surgeon general, someone we all respect, stand up and really say this is a great thing, you are really doing the right thing for this community, how much better can it get? It means the world to us.”

TAG: THE TOUR CONTINUES TOMORROW IN OKALOOSA AND WALTON COUNTIES WHERE HEALTH OFFICIALS AND COMMUNITY PARTNERS WILL HIGHLIGHT THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITIES GETTING ACTIVE.

About the Florida Department of Health

The department works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.
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