Black Maternal Health week runs from April 11-17
ROCKFORD — Black Maternal Health Week aims to raise awareness and take action to improve the health of Black mothers.
It’s a major crisis impacting Black mothers on their journey to create new life.
“When we look at maternal health, and specifically Black maternal health, that Black mothers are having poor outcomes when it comes to pregnancy and that shouldn’t happen not in 2024. We shouldn’t be seeing that,” Vice President, Chief Medical Officer at OSF HealthCare, Dr. Lisa Davis said.
Studies show Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, from 2018 to 2020, Black women were three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related medical conditions than white women.
Dr. Davis is also a practicing OB/GYN. and says there’s multiple factors contributing to Black women dying from pregnancy.
“It can be conditions related to blood pressure, it can be conditions related to diabetes, conditions related to bleeding on what we consider hemorrhage that can occur not just during the pregnancy, but in the immediate postpartum period,” Dr. Davis said.
When those conditions or pregnancy complications pop up, a lot of Black women are staying silent.
“Having a voice and understanding that when they see their providers in the office setting for those prenatal visits, or if they come to the hospital, when they’re evaluated and need to be seen that it’s okay to speak up and if something just doesn’t feel right or seem right. It’s okay to say so,” Dr. Davis said.
A common theme preventing Black women from accessing quality healthcare is perceived discrimination in medical settings, often times feeling dismissed or ignored by the people caring for them.
“I think we need to call it out when we see it happen,” Dr. Davis said. “When we’re the provider, and we’re taking care of that patient, we need to walk in that room and be open and try not to have assumptions.”
“We understand part of biases, sometimes it’s an unconscious bias and so we need to be aware of it. If we hear our colleagues doing it, people in our office, even other patients saying that about another patient, you call it out and make the correction kind of in that moment,”
Dr. Davis said representation in healthcare can also create a safe space for patients.
“There’s research that supports that for Black patients, they will have better outcomes when taken care of by Black physicians, but I also think that in itself can create a level of trust and a connection where they will feel comfortable, you know, asking questions or being more receptive to even listening to what I am telling them and trying to educate them about,” Dr. Davis said.
Black Maternal Health Week is a week long campaign, but building activism and awareness never stops.
“We have to keep pushing it to the forefront. I mean, many of the advances and things that we have accomplished as humans, as people here in this country and around the world have come from us being persistent about pushing that message out there and getting it out there so people don’t forget, and don’t ignore it,” Dr. Davis said.
“Every day is Black Maternal Health day,”
If you’re scared, anxious, or just need someone to talk to on your journey to becoming a mom, OSF HealthCare offers a 24/7 service called OSF OnCall.
Women enrolled in the pregnancy and postpartum program can use the resource as an outlet if they want to text or talk to a healthcare professional.
Patients also receive a blood pressure cuff to report their readings.