On January 14th from 3-5pm at the Corvallis Birth and Women’s Health Center, the Linn Benton Lincoln County Breastfeeding Coalition honored Debbie Alba, CNM, IBCLC with the coalition’s fourth annual “Breastfeeding Advocate of the Year” award.
Debbie currently works as a Certified Nurse Midwife and lactation consultant for the Corvallis Birth Center and as a lactation consultant for Samaritan Health Services in Corvallis. Her passion is to support women and babies through the birth experience and beyond.
She started working as an advocate for women and children in 1995 in San Francisco, where she first learned of the power of a positive birth and breastfeeding experience. Debbie has worked in the local area as a public health RN for Benton County, and for Samaritan Health in the home health, inpatient, and outpatient environments as an RN and lactation consultant.
Debbie holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Santa Clara University and a Bachelor’s in Nursing with honors from Oregon Health Sciences University. She has been an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant since 2002 and more recently graduated Summa Cum Laude from Frontier Nursing University with a Masters in Nursing in nurse midwifery.
She has served on the board of directors for the Oregon Washington Lactation Association, the Breastfeeding Coalition of Benton County, the Linn Benton Lincoln Breastfeeding Coalition, and the Breastfeeding Coalition of Oregon. She works to engage in and inspire innovative projects around the state of Oregon. This has included her role in Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center’s path to becoming a Baby Friendly Hospital.
This adds up to an impressive 25 years of helping breastfeeding families!
She is the mother of three children; and she and her husband live on a small farm outside of Philomath. She gardens and takes care of their herd of dairy goats, makes cheese, and runs on the hills around Corvallis with her two dogs.
To sum up Debbie’s passion for her work, here is a quote Debbie’s bio from the Birth Center website:
“I am committed to supporting women through evidence-based practice and informed choice throughout their personal journey towards health, and am particularly interested in providing a bridge from pregnancy care to overall health care, including mental health. I believe that empowerment of women in their life journey and optimum health and well-being of both women and children lays the foundation for a healthier, more sustainable society.”
Thank you, Debbie, for your valuable and impactful work and congratulations, on being this year’s Breastfeeding Advocate of the Year.
Linn Benton Lincoln Breastfeeding Coalition 