AKRON, Ohio — Thanks to Sgt. Kim Williams with the Akron Police Department, officers who are breastfeeding now have a new and comfortable place to express milk at work.
“We are kind of generically calling [it] the ‘mom room,'” Williams explained. “It is secure. We all get a key we can check out.”
Williams had her first baby just four months ago, and while she was pregnant Williams, she was trying to figure out where she would pump at the police station after she had her child.
“I was asking around when I was pregnant because I knew there were other moms on the department, and I wasn’t sure what they have done,” she said.
After talking to other mothers in the department, she realized there was a need for a dedicated space for officers to use a breast pump.
“This office was recently vacated so we thought why not make it something that can be consistently used by our sworn and our civilian staff.”
So she got to work writing a proposal for this space.
“That’s how we were able to get a nice little recliner,” she explained. “It’s actually wipe down-able, which is awesome and a fridge and freezer combo, which for us to store milk. This is huge. In the past there were officers who had to store their milk in a cooler or a lunch box, rolling around in a cruiser. It worked, but obviously this is way better and way more hygienic.”
She said gaining the courage to ask her supervisors for the space was nerve racking, even though they were completely supportive of the idea.
“It’s not easy to walk up to your male boss and say, ‘hey, I need somewhere to express breastmilk,'” she laughed. “It’s not a comfortable conversation for most women to have.”
She hopes she can inspire other women to speak up in their workplaces.
“I mean you have to remember, unless someone has experienced that need they may not realize that need it there,” she said.
