Toni Amequito has been committed to helping mothers ever since she began her nursing career 16 years ago. Within four years at Memorial Hermann Cypress, Amequito has created free resources for mothers and caregivers of all kinds.
Finding herself bonding with her patients, Amequito dove headfirst into education. After getting her childbirth and lactation educator certifications, she began hosting a breastfeeding class, a sibling class, and a teen parent group: her passion project. She said she hopes to see the process inspire her own children.“I was a teen mom so that was my dream,” Amequito said. “ see that passion and that drive through helping others.
Along with helping expectant parents and teen parents, Amequito began a partnership with Austin Milk Bank to supply mothers in the Memorial Hermann Cypress NICU with breastmilk from other mothers. Memorial Hermann Cypress was not only able to help mothers who could not produce their own milk, but gave mothers with surplus milk the chance to help another mother. Since opening the program in March 2019, Amequito said it has collected 59,765 ounces of milk from 77 donors.