A free, open-to-the-public event intended to advance Black maternal health will be held in Lancaster April 11 by the Diversifying Doulas Initiative.
The event also celebrates five years of Diversifying Doulas, a program of the local nonprofit Patients R Waiting that aims to use doula care to decrease maternal death and complications among people of color, according to co-founder Dr. Sharee Livingston. The initiative focuses on increasing the number of Black and brown doulas, and on providing fully subsidized doula care to people of color, she said. A doula is a trained, non-medical professional who provides support during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum.
Livingston said that her vision is for everyone — from health care organization leaders, mothers, and midwives to doulas, clergy and nurses — to walk away from the event with a tool to improve maternal health outcomes in the country.
Keynote speakers will be Shawnee Benton Gibson and Omari Maynard, Livingston said, the mother and partner of a woman who died after childbirth, who were subjects of the documentary film Aftershock. The keynotes will be followed by a town hall-style discussion on solutions to the Black maternal health crisis with state Secretary of Human Services Valerie Arkoosh and legislators from across the region.
The afternoon will feature a free lunch menu by Oliver Saye, owner and chef at Homage, which has a stand at Central Market. There will also be music, face painting and information sharing, she said, along with a list of vendors that will include Mamá La Lechera, Parents and Children Together, Pennie, UPMC Pinnacle Foundation and FLOW – For the Love of Women, where Livingston is co-founder.
Visitors will get the chance to learn about different birthing positions and how to use a birthing ball, and about hand expression and “purposeful breastfeeding,” Livingston said.
The event will take place at Bright Side Opportunities Center — 515 Hershey Ave., Lancaster city — from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors are encouraged to register in advance at bit.ly/DDIcelebration5.
Five years out
Since its creation in 2020 by Livingston and Dr. Cherise Hamblin, the initiative has provided fully subsidized doula care to 308 people of color in Lancaster County, Livingston said. And by April 6, the initiative will have trained 63 doulas of color, from Lancaster County, the state and beyond.
Going forward, the initiative will offer doula care in York and Dauphin counties as well as Lancaster, which Livingston said is thanks to grants, such as the maternal care innovation grant it was awarded last year. The organization’s goal is to go statewide, once the staff has grown.
Also through the maternal care innovation grant, the initiative began offering a class called For U by Doulas, for “those who are thinking about becoming pregnant, those who are currently pregnant and those who are recently postpartum,” Livingston said. The initiative has so far offered two sessions of the class — which last four weeks each — and plans to continue the class beginning in February.
The initiative also received a grant through the HHS Racial Equity in Postpartum Care Challenge in 2023, Livingston said. And in March 2024, Livingston and Hamblin were invited to present the initiative’s work at an annual meeting of the Society for Reproductive Investigation, which brought them to Vancouver, Canada.
“Talk about a highlight, that was exciting,” Livingston said.
