In March, we were honored to host four Massachusetts legislative leaders at Tufts Medical Center. We proudly welcomed Senator Elizabeth Warren and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure for a tour of our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Milk Lab. Days later we brought Boston City Counselors Erin Murphy and Edward Flynn on their own tour of the NICU, Milk Lab and North 6 Cardiac Surgery unit at Tufts Medical Center, as well as the Camilla Bessey Thompson and Paul D. Thompson, MD Clinical Skills and Simulation Center at Tufts University School of Medicine.
After her tour, Senator Warren held a widely covered roundtable discussion at the Medical Center with leaders from Tufts Medical Center, healthcare executives and frontline staff from across the state. The conversation focused on Medicare Advantage plans and their impact on Medicare coverage, a topic at the front of Senator Warren's mind. We were honored Senator Warren chose to host this critical and timely discussion at Tufts Medical Center.
Councilors Murphy and Flynn learned about Tufts Medical Center's innovative nursing pilot program that aims to improve efficiency in patient discharge and admissions, as well as patient and nurse satisfaction. At the Simulation Center, Dean Helen Boucher, MD gave an overview of the life-like training technologies used to develop and refine procedural skills so that medical students may learn to manage a wide range of patient ailments. The Councilors left impressed by the depth of innovation, compassion, and dedication demonstrated by Tufts Medical Center staff.
Both groups toured our NICU and Milk Lab. The Milk Lab, supported by the generosity of our philanthropic partners, opened in November 2023 and provides donated, nutrient-enriched breast milk to NICU infants. Milk Lab technicians fortify expressed and donated breast milk for optimum caloric and nutritional value on-site. By entrusting the processing and monitoring of donated and expressed milk to the careful hands of our Milk Lab technicians, our nurses have more time to spend at the bedside with newborns. The Milk Lab furthers our commitment to providing compassionate, family-centered care and we were proud to share this innovative resource with our visiting elected officials.
We are incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to demonstrate the critical role we play in our community and our dedication to providing compassionate, gold-standard care to Senator Warren, CMS Administrator Brooks-LaSure and Councilors Murphy and Flynn. We are proud to have a seat at the table where groundbreaking conversations on the future of healthcare are being held.
