The team on Guam successfully enrolled Guam Memorial Hospital, Saipan's Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, and Belau National Hospital into the program. Site visits to all three hospitals were completed in September 2024, and each site is already taking steps to improve breastfeeding initiation, breastfeeding exclusivity, skin-to-skin contact, and rooming-in for their local communities. GMH has made excellent strides since their site visit by participating in free online training modules and identifying safe ways to increase the rates of moms and babies receiving early skin-to-skin contact and support to begin breastfeeding soon after delivery. They are also finding ways to keep healthy moms and babies together in their mother’s hospital room with fewer interruptions or trips to the nursery. Their efforts are reflected in the recent data of CHAMPS National metrics. According to December 2024 data, breastfeeding initiation and exclusivity reached 70% and 40% respectively, and skin-to-skin contact has risen to 80% for vaginal births and 30% for cesareans. Mothers on Guam with no complications can hope to experience these improvements firsthand when they deliver their babies at GMH.

A coach and principal investigator, Antoinette Kleiner, RN, MSN, FNP, is a nursing instructor at the University of Guam Margaret Perez Hattori-Uchima School of Health and is not new to CHAMPS National. She was first involved with CHAMPS as a nurse educator-lactation consultant at the Indian Health Service hospital in Shiprock, New Mexico. The CHAMPS National program is built upon the lessons she learned with IHS and focuses on tailored training and sustainable change to help moms reach their self-determined goals. Most moms intend to breastfeed, but are challenged by competing obligations, social norms and expectations. Often the challenges include community awareness of existing rights such as the Nana yan Patgon Act, which supports a mother’s ability to breastfeed her baby wherever she is rightfully allowed to be, or a lack of awareness and support to continue breastfeeding or supply breastmilk to her baby when she returns to work. She says, “A decade ago, I learned about the importance of community support and cultural wisdom to create better health and families through breastfeeding support and education from the Native American communities I served. I wanted to bring those lessons and resources to my own people of Guam, and now, here we are!”

Included in the local team with Antoinette is Nicolle Heisserer, their program manager, who is also an IBCLC and La Leche League leader for the Guam chapter. Nicolle says, “Being part of the CHAMPS National program has been such a great opportunity to collaborate with brilliant, passionate professionals. It's been really inspiring to see people from diverse backgrounds and specialties converge on the importance of maternal-child health in our communities.” Our local LLL offers mom-to-mom support and expert guidance to help moms continue their breastfeeding journey for their desired duration.

Just last month, CHAMPS National led an Indigenous Lactation Counselor training with 36 participants from Guam, Saipan, Palau and Rota, including individuals representing CHamoru, Carolinian, Chuukese, Filipino and Palauan communities. ILC is a 5-day, lactation peer counselor training for those who identify as Indigenous. It is Native-taught and Native-designed by CHAMPS trainers Camie Jae Goldhammer (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyaté), MSW, LICSW, IBCLC, and Kimberly Moore-Salas (Diné), IBCLC. What is unique to ILC is the practice of counseling lactating families in a manner that is culturally sensitive and safe. Points of teaching included cultural practices and wisdom on breastfeeding and parenting, historical trauma, the trauma response, and how it relates to Indigenous parenting in the present.

Dorothy Joy Colodro, the team’s research assistant and a senior nursing student at the University of Guam, says, “Becoming a lactation counselor has been a small dream of mine since I first began breastfeeding my own three children. To be trained by these beautiful, Native women in a manner that is culturally sensitive to Indigenous people across our islands and beyond has been an incredible experience.” Many of the participants said the training was informative and felt confident in applying their newfound knowledge to their practices. Their certification validates their knowledge and skill to support moms and babies in reaching their breastfeeding goals, which centers around giving babies the best start to life and lifelong health benefits for both mom and baby.

All participants were ILC-certified by the end of the week, able to take this wisdom into their communities and agencies. This collaboration exemplifies UOG’s commitment to advancing health and wellness in Guam and the region, reflecting the university's role in fostering evidence-based practices and culturally sensitive health education.