Black Maternal Health Week is near to celebrate, highlight, and uplift Black birthing families.
According to the Oklahoma State Department of Health, Black Americans have the highest infant mortality rate (2020-2022) in Tulsa County. Combined, Black and Native people are six times more likely to endure pregnancy-related maternal mortalities compared to White people.
Systemic factors like culturally incompetent healthcare workers and medical racism prolong these health barriers.
Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and founded in 2019, the Oklahoma Birth Equity Initiative’s (OKBEI) mission is to “equip families to have healthy births with dignity and reduce maternal health disparities—creating a healthier, more equitable community for all.”
This is possible by educating and training community-based doulas. Black birthing families supported by the Tulsa Birth Equity Initiative experience lower rates of pre-term births and low birth weight compared to those who aren’t.
The Black Wall Street Times interviewed OKBEI’s Executive Director Omare Jimmerson, Program Project Manager Shamika Antwine-Boone, and Community Engagement Specialist Megan Buyckes to discuss its community-based doula programming and events, birth justice, and the power of informed community support.
“I was working with the program called Strong Tomorrows, which serves expecting and parenting teens, and I learned about the community-based doula model and brought that to Tulsa to serve the teams that were part of a program, and it morphed into what you know today as the Oklahoma Birth Equity Initiative,” Jimmerson said.
Oklahoma Birth Equity Initiative Community Doula Summit
The Oklahoma Birth Equity Initiative plans to educate, support, and provide a safe space for doulas at no cost. Their annual Community Doula Summit is on April 4 at Tulsa Tech Lemley Campus.
During the summit, Doulas earn continuing education credits, commune with other doulas, and more. Since 2023, the Community Doula Summit has supported doulas in education and collaboration.
“Part of the thinking behind bringing [the doulas] all back together is so that they can continue to create community; doulas need an outlet to debrief and process different birthing experiences that they have.” Jimmerson said, “Doing that with like-minded people is just like the community-based model: you’re connecting them with people who have lived experiences.”
Continuing education courses include topics ranging from building a business to lactation support. According to Jimmerson, birthing families throughout Oklahoma appreciate their community-based doulas’ education and support.
“We’ve been blessed the last couple of years to be able to get funding to record everything that we do. So, for those who maybe can’t take off work because they have, you know, a different type of job during the day, they have access to it,” Jimmerson said.
In addition to the Community Doula Summit, OKBEI is hosting various events throughout Black Maternal Health Week. This includes a community block party and egg hunt, community mixer, community baby shower, informative lunch and learn, and more.
“Our goal is to get our name out there. When you’re pregnant, we want the first thing you think about is, ‘I need to go to OKBEI to get a doula and to receive lactation help.’ You can get your needs met in any type of way, and know when you come to us, you’re gonna be treated like family,” Buyckes said.
Birth Justice creates positive societal change
The birth justice movement advocates for healthcare workers to care, honor, listen, and respect all birthing families from diverse backgrounds.
Through the Oklahoma Birth Equity Initiative’s programming, Oklahomans can receive community-based doula training and ongoing support.
“The community-based doula model is designed to be matched with someone who has a similar lived experience, whether that be race or y’all had an experience, a life experience that was the same because it’s built around relationship,” Jimmerson said.
In addition, the Oklahoma Birth Equity Initiative has met well over 9,000 clients, conducted 5,000+ in-person visits, and supported over 300 births.
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OKBEI strongly believes that Black Tulsans should embrace the close proximities of their communities.
In 2023, SoonerCare started to cover and reimburse doula care and services for Medicaid patients. OKBEI hopes that this direction helps push higher pay rates for doulas. They also wish for this to further integrate them as a vital part of the healthcare field.
“We are in the medical system, but doulas are not medical people. They are non-medical support people who support women while they go through a medical process, and one of the reasons it’s slow-moving out is because doulas don’t want to peel back, and they don’t have much time to mess with all the red tape,” Jimmerson said.
OKBEI plans to offer their community-based doulas support to file the necessary paperwork for reimbursement.
To encourage doulas nationwide, the OKBEI team gave some advice. “Keep the client at the center of the care that we are aiming to give because the ultimate goal is to increase health outcomes for women [from diverse backgrounds].”