Diane Attardi, MD, and Jordan Gonzalez, BSN, RN, are central to the opening and growth of the Milk Drop Depot at Vanderbilt Clarksville Hospital. (photo by Sandra Wooten)
By: Sandra Wooten
Ariel Chavis holds her daughter, Annie, after their release from the hospital. Both recovered well following the rare childbirth complications that made Annie’s delivery a race against time. (courtesy/Ariel Chavis)

When Vanderbilt Clarksville Hospital opened its Milk Drop Depot last May, leaders hoped to attract a handful of local donors. One year later, the program has far exceeded those expectations — collecting more than 13,200 ounces of donated breast milk from 28 approved donors, enough for over 23,500 feedings.

The depot, operated in partnership with Mothers’ Milk Bank of Tennessee, connects generous Clarksville-area mothers with premature and medically fragile infants across Middle Tennessee. Ninety-two percent of pasteurized donor milk collected by the milk bank goes directly to hospital neonatal intensive care units statewide.

“Donated mothers’ milk from our depot is picked up by the Mothers’ Milk Bank of Tennessee, processed and transported to NICUs throughout the state to serve as another ‘medication’ for the most fragile, low birth weight premature infants,” said Diane Attardi, MD, NICU medical director at Vanderbilt Clarksville Hospital.

Among the depot’s newest donors is Ariel Chavis, RN, of Clarksville. Chavis learned about the program before her daughter Annie was born — but it wasn’t until an emergency during childbirth landed Annie in the NICU that she understood its full significance.

“I was able to breastfeed Annie while she was in the hospital, and I saw how she thrived from having breast milk,” Chavis said. “I knew that if I could, I wanted to donate through the hospital’s Milk Drop Depot so other babies could have the same chance.”

Attardi, a key advocate for bringing the depot to Clarksville, credited the community’s response for the program’s early success. “Generous donor mothers in our greater Clarksville community have made our depot a great success so far, and we look forward to many more years of continued growth and affiliation with the milk bank.”

As the depot enters its second year, VCH remains committed to expanding access to donor breast milk for the region’s most vulnerable newborns.