Westchester County commits almost $1 million to Black maternal health

Diana Dombrowski, Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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Three groups working to improve health outcomes for Black expectant mothers and their babies will receive a total of almost $1 million from Westchester County, officials announced Wednesday.

Through a new program called The Black Maternal Child Health Initiative, the county health department will give $365,000 to the Lower Hudson Valley Perinatal Network, $330,000 to St. John's Riverside Hospital and $300,000 to Birth from the Earth.

Sister to Sister, International Founder Cheryl Brannan delivers remarks during the announcement of the Westchester County Black maternal child health initiative, at the county office building in White Plains, Feb. 8, 2023. It's a partnership with the Westchester County Health Department, Lower Hudson Valley Perinatal Network, Birth from The Earth and Saint John’s Riverside Hospital. The program will strive to improve Black Maternal and Child Health Outcomes in Westchester County.

"The outcomes have not been good for Black women through their pregnancy and delivery and we want that to get better," County Executive George Latimer said at a news conference Wednesday. "We see this as the beginning of an investment, not the completion of the investment."

The maternal mortality rate of Black women in the U.S. is over three times that of white women, according to a 2021 article in the American Journal of Public Health that analyzed vital statistics.

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The announcement comes as St. John's works toward renovating one of its old labor and delivery suites with almost $1 million in funding announced last year by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer.

Here is how each group will use the funding from the county:

Lower Hudson Valley Perinatal Network, which serves Greenburgh, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, White Plains and Yonkers, will be able to fund two community health workers and a licensed master social worker for a program involving prenatal and postpartum home visits.

The community health workers "will conduct health assessments, connect families to preventative and primary health care services, and provide referrals to address social determinants of health," according to a statement. The funds will also go toward a certified lactation consultant.

The goal is for all perinatal people to "have a stress-free zone," said Angela Campbell, Lower Hudson Valley Perinatal Network's executive director. "So when you come into our organization, you're going to get a doula, you're going to get a community health worker and you're going to get a breastfeeding specialist."

Westchester County Executive George Latimer poses for a photo with participants, after the announcement of the Westchester County Black maternal child health initiative, at the county office building in White Plains, Feb. 8, 2023. It's a partnership with the Westchester County Health Department, Lower Hudson Valley Perinatal Network, Birth from The Earth and Saint John’s Riverside Hospital. The program will strive to improve Black Maternal and Child Health Outcomes in Westchester County.

St. John’s Riverside Hospital will use the funds for two data analysts to support the recently established Black Maternal & Child Center of Excellence and provide implicit bias training for the hospital's maternity staff and medical students.

"As a hospital we're committing to you that we're going to work with our staff to change," said Kay Scott, associate vice president for grant management.

Birth from the Earth, a Yonkers-based agency dedicated to childbirth education, will use the money to expand its work engaging Black birthing parents and their families through three new roles. It will also be able to train five people as doulas, expand its prenatal and birthing consultations, and create a database of laws and policies related to culturally competent care.

Nubia Earth Martin, founder of Birth from the Earth, said partnering with local organizations like the Lower Hudson Valley Perinatal Network and Sister to Sister International has helped fuel positive change: families feel better supported with midwives and OBGYNs who listen to them.

"These are the types of things that we're trying to impact as well as making sure that people always have equitable care and that our maternal health rates in general improve," Martin said.

Cheryl Brannan, who founded Sister to Sister International in Yonkers and has been working on improvements to Black maternal health care for years, said Sister to Sister is also working with the county health department on a dashboard to track outcomes. Brannan was a guest of Schumer's at the State of the Union on Tuesday.

"We're going to change birth outcomes in Westchester County for Black women," she said.

Contact Diana Dombrowski at ddombrowski@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @domdomdiana.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Westchester County funding to help improve Black birthing outcomes