Our Presenters Aljanise Jones growing up in the small rural town of Pulaski, TN she was able to witness the impact of health inequities. After high school Aljanise received her Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Communication from Middle Tennessee State University. Then after six years of experience working for community-based organizations in which at risk families were the primary focus, she became interested in pursuing lactation education becoming a Certified Lactation Counselor. Aljanise is a Board Member of the Pulaski Breastfeeding Support Group. The Pulaski Breastfeeding Support Group assists maternal and infant care through their lactation journey; and connecting them to community resources helping to remove social barriers.
Aljanise currently works for UnitedHealthcare as a Social Needs Advocate leading the Doula Support Pilot and Lactation Benefit efforts under the Workforce Development Initiatives. Aljanise also leads The Health Equity Accreditation in which the health plan focuses on identifying inequities for the members, implementing interventions, and closing disparity gaps. Lakisha King Windle has been a Registered Nurse for 20 years. She been a Lactation Consultant for 15 years. Lakisha currently works as a LC at Methodist Olive Branch in the Baby Friendly Hospital setting. Her experience with Lactation began when he had her first baby. The challenges that she faced were many. After getting the much needed support from her lactation consultant, Lakisha was able to nurse her first born for 15 months. Her daughter 2 years. Her youngest for 3.5 years. She was inspired d to help others like herself women of color that want to breast feed, but often not supported. She started with volunteer work in her community and was involved with a variety of support groups that were for breastfeeding moms. She is a BSTARs member, worked on the TN Breast Feeding Hotline, Le Bonheur General Pediatric Breast Feeding Clinic, she has had the privilege of for serving breastfeeding families in the community setting, the Outpatient Clinic setting, and the hospital setting.
Darcy Knowles is committed to improving health outcomes for all Tennesseans. Darcy is a Program Manager at BlueCare Tennessee, a Medicaid Managed Care Organization; where she is responsible for population health program design and strategy development with a focus on well child, maternal health, and social determinants of health initiatives. Darcy’s recent work has been focused on addressing disparities in maternal health outcomes in Tennessee, through Workforce Development Initiatives including Lactation Consultants and Doulas.
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