{"id":5194,"date":"2023-05-16T10:52:20","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T14:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/?p=5194"},"modified":"2023-05-16T10:53:05","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T14:53:05","slug":"creating-community-hunters-school-of-education-raises-awareness-on-black-maternal-mortality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/2023\/05\/creating-community-hunters-school-of-education-raises-awareness-on-black-maternal-mortality\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Community: Hunter\u2019s School of Education Raises Awareness on Black Maternal Mortality"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the government continues to encroach on women\u2019s bodily autonomy, Hunter College\u2019s School of Education held a <\/span>forum<\/span><\/a> last week to raise awareness on a population that is exceptionally vulnerable to these law changes: Black mothers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite only making up <\/span>14% of the United States\u2019 female population<\/span><\/a>, Black women are <\/span>three times as likely<\/span><\/a> as white women to die during or after childbirth, and <\/span>nearly twice as likely<\/span><\/a> to give birth with little to no prenatal care.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Facilitating the discussion, the School of Education\u2019s Assistant Director for Student Affairs Valerie Lyons asked a series of questions to the panelists regarding their career paths, journeys as mothers, and their meaning of \u201cpostpartum.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Patr\u00edcia Soriano Guzm\u00e1n, in the bottom right corner, shares her definition of \u201cpostpartum\u201d alongside Valerie Lyons, Gina Riley, Elizabeth Cano-Correa, and Mia Lancelloti pictured from top left to bottom left.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The theme of all the answers were clear: this concept of \u201cpostpartum\u201d only tells half the story. The speakers unanimously agree that Black women need to be given resources to begin planning before, during, and long after the conception and birth of their child. Patr\u00edcia Soriano Guzm\u00e1n, a lactation consultant at Montefiore Nyack Hospital, sees that the language needs to be shifted towards the use of the word <\/span>perinatal<\/span><\/i>, which encompasses the time periods before and after childbirth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While every mother experiences the great shift that comes along with birth giving, the healthcare system\u2019s systemic racism creates even more barriers for Black mothers in terms of treatment and resources. \u201cThe hospital gown is the great equalizer,\u201d said Guzm\u00e1n, \u201cyet quality of care is still allocated unfairly.\u201d She argues that while women are strong, their entry into the medical system makes them vulnerable and susceptible to avoidable pain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With <\/span>80% of maternity-related deaths preventable<\/span><\/a>, Elizabeth Cano-Correa, a postpartum doula and lactation counselor, shared that she believed the solution was building a sense of community by connecting with other mothers. Having grown up in the United States without any maternal role models, Cano-Correa reflected on her Colombian ancestors and their traditions when it came to birth giving.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll the female members of the family would be in the room helping the delivering mom, supporting her through the process,\u201d said Cano-Correa. To her, that\u2019s why midwives and doulas are so imperative: they educate, provide resources, and most importantly, fill in the gaps when family isn\u2019t present or supportive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Midwives are there not only during the birth, but for the weeks, months, and years after for the mothers, even attending their OB-GYN visits. Their services are <\/span>covered by<\/span><\/a> private insurance, medicare and medicaid.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alongside midwives, groups like <\/span>Le Leche League International<\/span><\/a> provide another avenue of support for expecting mothers. Gina Riley, Program Leader of Hunter College\u2019s Adolescent Special Education Program, shared her experience relying on Le Leche League International as a single mother. \u201cWhile it was hard but beautiful, women being supportive of me and others on our journeys made the difference,\u201d said Riley.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While all these resources are free and publicly available, finding them serves to be one of the hardest parts. With single mothers already facing so many barriers to receiving quality care, the multitude of resources can be overwhelming and hard to find when a strong support system isn\u2019t present.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lyons believes that\u2019s where students come in, asking the students in the audience to share their thoughts on what makes educating themselves on these issues so important. Mia Lancelloti, a recent grad researching the generational impacts of social environments on motherhood at Columbia University,\u00a0 emphasized that the knowledge she\u2019s gained has helped her pass resources down to her study\u2019s participants in a manner they understand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEven though these issues may not directly affect me, having an understanding allows for solutions and implementations to become more community-based,\u201d said Lancelloti. Another student, Frankie Moe Soughou, shared the same sentiment. \u201cBoth students & their parents need resources & support,\u201d they said in the Zoom chat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Raising awareness on Black mothers\u2019 health has finally begun to become more mainstream, with the United States’s President Joe Biden naming April 11-17 \u201cBlack Maternal Health Week.\u201d As attention on the disparity increases, Lancelloti hopes that the community and accessibility to resources are kept as the first priorities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Guzm\u00e1n, Lancelloti, Cano-Correa, and Riley hope that the audience\u2019s main takeaway is that the power to challenge the status quo of the medical system lies in education and community.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Black maternal health resources can be found for free <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the government continues to encroach on women\u2019s bodily autonomy, Hunter College\u2019s School of Education held a forum last week to raise awareness on a population that is exceptionally vulnerable to these law changes: Black mothers.\u00a0 Despite only making up 14% of the United States\u2019 female population, Black women are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5194"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5198,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5194\/revisions\/5198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}