New campaign aims to turn the tide on maternal mortality in Chicago’s Black community
Shernita Hosey, 38, knows what it’s like to endure postpartum depression. The single mom of two daughters, ages 10 and 14, remembers the support she sought from family and friends after her children were born.
That’s why the Humboldt Park resident can often be seen canvassing door to door in South Side neighborhoods as an outreach worker with EverThrive Illinois, a health equity advocacy group.
The latest campaign centers on the Black maternal morbidity crisis, which encapsulates any health problems that result from being pregnant or giving birth. According to an October report on Illinois Maternal Morbidity and Mortality from the Illinois Department of Public Health, discrimination was 50% more likely to be a contributing factor in pregnancy-related deaths among Black women as compared with white women; Black women were three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related medical conditions as white women; and statewide maternal mortality review committees determined 91% of pregnancy-related deaths were potentially preventable due to clinical, systemic, social, community or patient factors. Such statistics have spurred numerous agencies and organizations to try to make inroads in their own ways, including with technology.
”The Gathering” campaign by EverThrive Illinois offers online tools and information to aid Black women before, during and after their pregnancies. The site also provides a glossary of terms to help health care providers better communicate with patients — explaining medical terminology. EverThrive created the guide based on focus groups conducted on the South and West sides of Chicago. The goal: for health care providers to use it to better connect with patients.
“A lot of people, when I’m out there ... they know what they’re going through, but they can’t really explain it,” Hosey said. “I was at a school out south and a lady was going through all this stuff with postpartum depression. When I got to talking to her, the lady broke down and started crying. She said she’s been going through it. There’s a lot of stuff on it to help them.”
Chi Chi Okwu, EverThrive’s executive director, is hoping the campaign will improve maternal outcomes by working on the issue through a community lens. By conducting focus groups and hundreds of surveys on the South and West sides, Okwu said EverThrive found a disconnect between childbearing women and medical professionals. So the glossary was created to improve communication and incorporate culturally relevant language in clinical settings. Every bit helps when working to reduce disparity gaps, she said.
“We felt that it was imperative to get the perspective of Black pregnant people postpartum and the communities that surround them to get their voice at the table,” Okwu said. “We’re proud of this tool because it’s one that was co-created together. We see it as one tool that we’re using to educate the community and go deeper.”
Tamela Milan-Alexander, EverThrive’s community engagement director, said the campaign has reached over 30,000 people since its launch this summer. Milan-Alexander said the same things that happened to her during her pregnancies occurred with her five daughters’ pregnancies years later.
“As long as we remain having bias and disrespectful care, I’ll stay in this game,” Milan-Alexander said. “The campaign is ongoing. In the focus groups, what we learned quickly was nobody knows what maternal morbidity is. They just know their auntie didn’t come home after she had her baby. No one knows why because there’s not a term.”
As the campaign progresses, Okwu envisions deeper conversations about what it means to build cultural competence for providers and their health teams within Black communities. Milan-Alexander said EverThrive’s social service providers have even done grand rounds with health care providers to make them aware of the work being done. Grand rounds are formal conversations that physicians have with one another to discuss patients’ cases.
Okwu also hopes to expand The Gathering’s resources to cover mental health and how fathers factor into the conversation about Black moms. Okwu said EverThrive has been partnering with Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative and working with regional birthing hospitals to share the tool.
Okwu said the campaign has hit a nerve within the community.
“The provider is integral to the type of care people are getting, but we are working on the community engagement side to say, ‘How do you start to advocate for yourself in this process?’” she said.
By letting community feedback inform the direction and growth of The Gathering, it allows people to share their stories. Hosey can attest to that.
“Sometimes people don’t want to talk to you and you get to tell them about your experiences and then they open up,” she said. “I like making communities better for families. I want them to know there are resources out there for them; you can get through it and there are others going through the same thing as you.”
Systemic inequities and policies have created distrust between providers and the Black community. Okwu understands there is no silver bullet to fix it all, but she knows The Gathering is a first step toward systems-level change. Milan-Alexander sees the campaign’s expansion having a three-pronged impact: on the people being served, the people providing the service and the system in which both sides work.
“When you start to hear stories on the impact of not receiving the type of care that you would hope for or need, then it becomes real to people,” Okwu said. “We’re trying to serve as that bridge between community members and bring that to decision-making tables within hospitals and other institutions where they can begin to say, ‘I’ve heard multiple stories. What does that mean in how I start to think about the care that I provide?’”
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