Last fall, two videos of Black women in active labor went viral — and reignited conversation about how Black mothers receive medical care in hospitals.
One video shows Karrie Jones in Dallas. Jones was seen writhing in pain while a nurse passively completed intake paperwork. In Crown Point, Indiana, Mercedes Wells was recorded as she cried in agony before being discharged. She gave birth in her car moments later.
These instances of alleged medical negligence shined a light on biases that have existed in hospital systems for decades — and what birthing advocates say hinder progress toward lower mortality rates across the country.
According to the March of Dimes’ annual PeriStats, Missouri and Illinois both received a grade of D in overall maternal and infant care, and Black women remain at the top of the list for maternal mortality.
In St. Louis, Lora Gulley, birthing advocate and chief operating officer at Generate Health, said solutions need to go beyond workplace training.
“We talk about bias in health care systems, but it also manifests itself in an individual and systemic way. We can't train our way out of it,” she told St. Louis on the Air. “We really do have to pay attention [to systemic biases], elevating where there's opportunities for us to improve, and equipping not only providers with skills, resources and training, but with community members.”
Elena Jenkins of the Missouri Collaboration for Clinical Community Integration in Maternal Health said many issues could be avoided by listening to patients and taking their concerns seriously.
“We are experts on our own bodies and when something feels different. I think making sure that we are hearing moms as they are telling us what is happening with their bodies puts together a whole picture over the course of the pregnancy that can inform how we view [a patient’s medical treatment],” she said.
There is a growing trend of Black mothers seeking their own solutions to keep themselves and their babies safe, including alternatives to hospital delivery rooms and hiring doulas or midwives.
“It's frowned upon, but you have some people that free birth, which is a process where the family gains all the information they need in order to have the baby at home by themselves, without any medical professionals involved,” said LaKisha Redditt, doula and founder of Virtuous Doula Training Academy. “Then if there's a doula involved in our prenatal settings, we are probably talking to [the patient] about how they envision their birth and striving towards the goal of creating that in the hospital setting.”
Birthing advocates and medical professionals seek to lower the rate of maternal mortality among Black mothers. Jenkins said the effort should start with community integration.
“My current role as a program coordinator has shown me clinical community integration is critical to be able to provide the wraparound care that our families need so they're not falling through the gaps.”
To learn more about what organizations are doing to advocate for Black mothers, including the relationship among doulas, midwives and traditional hospitals, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Darrious Varner is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
