METHOD, APPARATUS, AND SYSTEM FOR LACTATION ACCOMMODATION

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and system for lactation accommodation with a product table that utilizes in one locale the combination of a chair, counter, sink, splash guards and anti-microbial surfaces to construct lactation support for nursing mothers that meets food handling and health care standards. A vertical splash guard is placed between the pump table space and the sink table space to reduce splash from the sink onto the counter. The system includes a sink with countertop hole to accommodate a hands-free faucet with or without water temperature control levers, but has no other holes or seams that will permit microbial growth. The lactation accommodation comes in two sizes, one non-handicap accommodation with shorter length countertop spaces, and a second handicap accessible accommodation with longer countertop space and is wheelchair accessible. The apparatus includes a chair attached to the table or floor so that it cannot be removed from the installation.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/453,244 filed Mar. 16, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

This disclosure relates in general to the field of medical procedure and food handling counters and more particularly to human lactation accommodations.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

During a typical eight-hour day at work or public facility, a nursing mother may require multiple breaks to collect expressed milk within a private and safe environment to maintain milk supply while away from nursing child. There are no existing, universal standards for the providing of such lactation support and accommodations applicable to work or public facilities.

Some sites simply provide a vacant office or room with varying degrees of accommodations for nursing mothers to use during their breast pumping sessions. These rooms may include doors or curtains for semi-privacy, sitting furniture such as a chair or sofa, or furniture for supporting breast pumps such as a table or desk. Access to these rooms may be through security cards or keys, locks on the doors, or a lack of locks on the doors. Lactating mothers may need to go through a gatekeeper and sign-up/authorization process to qualify to use the accommodation. The furniture varies and may be upholstered or not, with milk and dirt contaminants easily embedded in surfaces. These are hard to clean and sanitize, leading to high cross contamination risks to subsequent breast pumpers. Finally, the rooms may or may not have provisions for sanitation materials or utility faucets and sinks. Rooms without sinks may require lactating mothers to go to another area with a sink to wash pumping implements, causing her to take more time and less privacy to accomplish the pumping task.

Some sites may provide for separate faucets, counters, or sinks within the room. However, these water sources are usually breeding grounds for bacteria, with areas like overflow drains, sink drains, and faucet spouts being ripe environments for microbial growth. Additionally, any surfaces that may come into contact with skin and may not be operated hands-free increases microbial contamination risks and also the risk of faucet spray during breast pumping equipment washing.

Some other sites may provide for rooms such as a private closet, employee office, or conference rooms that require the displacement of other employees during breast pumping period. These rooms may also include converted storage closets; these multipurpose rooms that are not dedicated to breast pumping does not guarantee that the rooms will be readily available for nursing mothers to use at certain times, e.g. during restocking of the storage space. Further, storage items may cause risk to the breast pumping activity and result in contamination of pumped milk.

Some sites simply utilize restrooms as their nursing mother lactation spaces. This is extremely unsanitary and does not meet the basic needs of nursing mothers. Public bathrooms usually lack access to electrical sockets for energizing breast pumps and there is a high risk of contamination.

The above-mentioned approaches have shortcomings. More particularly, other sites simply provide space that is available and does not take into consideration the fact that the rooms may be unsanitary, lacks access to water or electricity, does not meet health care or food handling guidelines, contains high risks of contamination, room access may be intermittent and inconvenient without reasonable expectations of privacy, or not easily and adequately cleaned by appropriate janitorial services.

The above-mentioned approaches may be impractical accommodations that do not achieve goals of providing a sanitary and private space for milk expression in a time efficient manner. A need exists, therefore, for improved lactation accommodations without shortcomings.

SUMMARY

The following disclosure presents concepts for improving utility of lactation accommodations for nursing mothers in work and public facilities. The disclosed subject matter significantly improves upon prior art aimed at providing nursing mothers with the needed milk expression support conveniently located in one area at the work or public site to return to the facility after childbirth. It is an object of the present disclosure to permit the meeting of the basic needs of nursing mothers of a private and sanitary space for breast pumping in one place minimizing the time for manual or automated milk expression, provisions for sanitizing hands and pumping equipment, while limiting the footprint of the space without restricting access and allowing for adequate janitorial cleaning addressing health care and food handling facility guidelines.

The present disclosure teaches a lactation accommodation system for private, sanitary breast pumping by providing a product table with an up to 1000 pound weight-bearing countertop, a sink, splash guards between sink and the countertop, an up to 1000 pound weight-bearing legless chair attached to the table, and four up to 1000 pound weight-bearing countertop legs bolted into the room or legless up to 1000 pound weight-bearing countertop anchored to the wall.

One aspect of the disclosed subject matter is an anti-microbial surface to ensure sanitation within the lactation accommodation to minimize cross contamination between users and efficient janitorial cleaning.

Another aspect of the disclosed subject matter is a non-removable chair attached to the counters or floors that has support legs to ensure the chair is always available during breast pumping activity and allows efficient janitorial cleaning of floor under product counter and chair to ensure cleanliness.

Another aspect of the disclosed subject matter is the utilization of splash guards to create separation between areas designated for breast pumping and areas designated to be used for sanitary clean-up.

Yet another aspect of the disclosed subject matter is the use of countertops and sinks that address health facility and food handling cleanliness guidelines.

Another aspect of the disclosed subject matter is the providing of privacy measures such as privacy walls and door bolts, without limiting access to the room while not in use.

Yet another aspect of the disclosed subject matter is adequate access to cleaning supplies.

Another aspect of the disclosed subject matter is the providing of all necessary features within a minimal square footage of space.

Yet another aspect of the disclosed subject matter is hands-free equipment.

These and other aspects of the disclosed subject matter, as well as additional novel features, will be apparent from the description provided herein. The intent of this summary is not to be a comprehensive description of the claimed subject matter, but rather to provide a short overview of some of the subject matter's functionality. Other systems, methods, features and advantages here provided will become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following FIGUREs and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features and advantages that are included within this description, be within the scope of any claims filed later.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features believed characteristic of the presently disclosed subject matter will be set forth in any claims that are filed later. The presently disclosed subject matter itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives, and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary lactation accommodation system.

FIG. 2 displays an alternative view of an exemplary lactation accommodation system.

FIG. 3 portrays a close-up view of an exemplary legless chair used within the system.

FIG. 4 depicts an alternate exemplary embodiment of the lactation accommodation system, with a perspective and side view.

FIG. 5 illustrates an overhead diagram view of yet another alternative exemplary embodiment.

FIGS. 6 and 7 depict the processes by which a nursing mother would engage in milk expression.

FIG. 8 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the splash-prevention functionality of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

Although described with particular reference to lactation accommodation, those with skill in the arts will recognize that the disclosed embodiments have relevance to a wide variety of areas in addition to those specific examples described below.

All references, including publications, patent applications, and patents, cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicated to be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entirety herein.

FIGS. 1 and 2 depict exemplary lactation accommodation systems for ADA (American Disability Act) and non-ADA facility access. The system provides for all of the activities associated with a typical breast pumping session, including but is not limited to, washing hands, sanitizing of the lactation space, sitting down to manually or automatically express milk in front of a pump for 15-30 minutes and bottling of milk, washing of bottles and breast pump components, packing them away for the next pumping session, dressing, and re-sanitizing of the lactation space before leaving the lactation accommodation.

An expectation of privacy and accessibility are very important factors to nursing mothers who may use such a lactation accommodation. As shown in FIG. 2, the nursing mother is located within a designated room used exclusively for lactation purposes and access includes a door which may be temporarily closed with a latch while in use. This latch may be either a dead bolt or indicator dead bolts that display an occupied/empty indicator to discourage interruptions by others wishing to use the lactation space. This allows for ready access and alerts others to the presence of a user within. Other elements of privacy (not shown) may include, but is not limited to, sound dampening materials for the walls and doors, shades or blinds on the doors, sound attenuation between walls to limit sound wave transmission, or other sound-dampening materials such as fabric panels, carpets, curtains, or rugs.

There is no minimum or maximum space for the lactation accommodation square footage, but with smaller lactation spaces come the risk of cross contamination between sink 12 and breast pump components or milk. Additionally, health code guidelines often designate a minimum distance that the sink 12 must be away from an area needing to be contaminate free. The splash guard 22 helps to prevent sink water or waste from splashing upon the food prep area next to it and decreases contamination risks.

The lactation accommodation includes a seating arrangement where the weight-bearing chair 14 cannot be removed from the installation such as attached to the support legs 20 of a counter 10 or attached to the floor. The support legs 20 may be weight-bearing to support the table and may be bolted into the ground for additional support. Conversely, the support legs 20 may be omitted if the weight-bearing counter 10 is supported by walls. This seating arrangement ensures that the nursing mother user will always have a place to sit and manually express or operate her breast pumping equipment for the entire duration of the milk expression process without unnecessary strain caused by standing. The chair 14 should be comprised of an anti-microbial material that does not easily absorb stains or collect bacteria. Fabrics may be used on the chair 14 if desired for aesthetic reasons. Further, the chair 14 may swivel, fold away, or height adjust to allow for easier access. The chair 14 may be designed for ergonomic comfort of the user while expressing milk. The chair 14 may be made of metal, plastic, or other composite materials that are weight-bearing and sanitizable.

The counter 10 of the lactation accommodation is also constructed out of an anti-microbial surface, such as stainless steel, to prevent contaminants from being embedded into the material and contaminating the milk of subsequent users. It is sufficiently tall enough to allow clearance above the legs of the user underneath the counter 10. An electrical socket may be provided on the counter 10, within the support legs 20, or may be located anywhere else within the lactation accommodation to allow for breast pump use.

Built into the counter 10 is a sink 12 that is deep enough to wash bottles and breast pump components. The sink 12 is located on the countertop 10, adjacent to the breast pumping area, to minimize the size of the lactation accommodation and increases the time efficiency of the nursing mother user, who would otherwise require travel to another nearby sink 12 to clean breast pump components. Additionally, the sink 12 only has a single drain, preferably offline with the faucet spout to increase the sanitation of the lactation accommodation. The faucet may be hands-free, as well as the soap dispenser, air dryer, and paper towel dispenser located above the counter 10, to enable washing and sanitation without the need to physically touch the faucet or soap and paper towel dispensers. Also built into the counter 10 may be splash guards 22 behind the sink 12 or washable surfaces for health code reasons. Further, there is task lighting located above the sink 12 and lactation space of the counter 10.

Additional elements (not shown) that may be installed to further accommodate the user, include but is not limited to: HVAC and temperature control thermostats, internet access, telephone access, trash can, coat rack or hooks, mirrors, clocks, magazine racks, televisions or radios, storage lockers, bulletin boards for room scheduling or milk storage devices such as refrigerators.

FIG. 3 portrays a close-up view of an exemplary legless chair 14 used within the system. FIG. 4 depicts an alternate exemplary embodiment of the lactation accommodation system, with a perspective and side view. FIG. 5 illustrates an overhead diagram view of yet another alternative exemplary embodiment. The sink counter top 10 may or may not have holes for deck mounted faucet and soap dispenser. The faucet and soap dispenser may be wall mounted and independent of counter top 10. The counter top 10 is made of material that may be made of material to prevent harboring of microbes such as stainless steel and other solid surface materials. The countertop 10 may be supported by legs 20, wall, or a combination of these. The countertop 10 may have an additional support mechanism such as a frame on the underside of the countertop 10. The chair 14 can be attached to floor, wall, or countertop 10 or a combination of these. The countertop 10 and chair 14 are weight-bearing and not to any limited amount of weight. Lastly, the chair 14 may swivel, fold away, height adjust, or swing away to allow easier access.

FIGS. 6 and 7 depicts the process by which a nursing mother would engage in milk expression. In Frame 1.a., the nursing mother is able to readily gain access to the lactation accommodation without requiring any special access cards, via public access door to foyer for the lactation room. She knows that the lactation room space is designated for lactation purposes only and is able to latch the door closed when in use, without locking up the foyer or public access door to the lactation room entrance, and thus is able to create a sense of privacy without worry that another may walk in on her. She will then close the door to lactation room behind her in Frame 1.b. In Frame 2.a. and 2.b., the nursing mother washes her hands and sanitizes the countertop space in preparation of her manual or automatic breast pumping to prevent any contamination of her bottled milk. This helps to remove any microbes and residues that may have been left behind by previous users of the lactation accommodation. The splash guard 22 minimizes splash cross contamination from sink 12 while the lactating mother washes pumping items, hands, and countertops 10. In Frame 3.a. and 3.b., the nursing mother is able to rest in the attached chair 14, manually express milk or assemble the breast pump components, and proceed to engage in breast pumping for the 15-minute long process. The extracted breast milk may be contained in storage containers as shown in Frame 3.c. In Frame 4.a and 4.b., the nursing mother will wash the breast pump components and pack the breast milk and pump components before vacating room. In Frame 5, the nursing mother sanitizes the lactation accommodation as she did earlier to clean the space and help prevent cross contamination of bodily fluids with subsequent users of the lactation accommodation. Finally, the nursing mother unlatches the lactation room door in Frame 6 to exit and leave the space accessible for another's use. The lactating mother may store the expressed milk in an available refrigerator or ice chest.

FIG. 8 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the splash-prevention functionality of the present disclosure. By making the splash guard 22 broader and having a method to reduce sink splash to counter top 10, the overall hygienic features of the system are improved. There are many ways to prevent splash, one of which is to install a vertical splash guard 22 in the counter 10. An alternative method is to have the counter top 10 stored in some fashion so as to not be open to sink splash during hand or equipment washing. One method is to have the counter 10 mounted to the wall or support mechanism using a hinge that allows the counter 10 to be pulled into a table top position as shown in the drawings.

The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the claimed subject matter. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without the use of the innovative faculty. Thus, the claimed subject matter is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein. For exemplary purposes, although the present disclosure is described as a system for milk expression, either by using a mechanical pump or manually expressing using human hands, the present disclosure is readily adaptable to be employed for use in medical procedures such as insulin injections.

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of exemplary embodiments in which the presently disclosed apparatus and system can be practiced. The term “exemplary” used throughout this description means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration,” and should not necessarily be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

Further, although exemplary devices and schematics implement the elements of the disclosed subject matter have been provided, one skilled in the art, using this disclosure, could develop additional hardware to practice the disclosed subject matter and each is intended to be included herein.

In addition to the above described embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate that this disclosure has application in a variety of arts and situations and this disclosure is intended to include the same.

Claims

1. A multi-purpose table assembly comprising:

a horizontal platform;

a plurality of support members extending from said horizontal platform for supporting the weight of said horizontal platform;

a sanitation assembly disposed within or around said horizontal platform;

a protective barrier portion for splash prevention between said sanitation assembly and said horizontal platform; and

a support platform for supporting an individual.

2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said plurality of vertical support members comprise a support base.

3. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said support platform comprises a chair.

4. The assembly of claim 3, wherein said chair may be a swivel, fold away, height adjust, or swing away.

5. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said support platform is fastened to said assembly.

6. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said support platform is fastened to a vertical or horizontal wall.

7. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said protective barrier portion is comprised of a vertical splash guard.

8. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said protective barrier portion is comprised of a portion of said horizontal platform being stored in a manner such as to be closed or not exposed during operation of said sanitation assembly.

9. The assembly of claim 8, wherein said horizontal platform is hinged, covered, or swing away.

10. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said horizontal platform is anti-microbial, said horizontal platform being formed of a material which prevents harboring of microbes.

11. The assembly of claim 10, wherein said material is further comprised of stainless steel or other solid surface materials which inhibit bacterial growth.

12. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said protective barrier portion is formed of a corrosion resistant metal.

13. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said sanitation assembly is comprised of a sink.

14. The assembly of claim 11, wherein said sink is further comprised of a faucet, soap dispenser, towel dispenser, and hand dryer.

15. The assembly of claim 12, wherein said faucet, soap dispenser, towel dispenser, and hand dryer may be mounted and fastened separate from said assembly.

16. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said plurality of support members is comprised of vertical and horizontal members for supporting the weight of said assembly.

17. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said plurality of support members is comprised of support frames for supporting the weight of said assembly.

18. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said horizontal platform and support platform are weight bearing.

19. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said assembly is modified for milk expression purposes.

20. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said assembly is modified for medical procedures.