Black Maternal Health Week

Ad Purchase Page - 2nd Annual Awards Luncheon

WHAT IS BLACK MATERNAL HEALTH WEEK?

Black Mamas Matter created Black Maternal Health Week in 2018. The week is recognized from April 11-17 annually. According to the Black Mamas Matter Website, Black Maternal Health Week was created “to amplify the voices of Black Mamas and center the values and traditions of the reproductive and birth justice movements. Activities during BMHW are rooted in human rights, reproductive justice, and birth justice frameworks.”

BALTIMORE HEALTHY START & MATERNAL HEALTH

Dyad Care Maternal Health Monitoring Intervention Severe Maternal Morbidity Review Patients as Partners Initiative Pathways Project Doula Services

Dyad Care

We at BHS know that mothers take their babies for their well child appointments but often neglect their own care including post-partum visits and well woman visits. This intervention provides postpartum care services, delivered by Certified Registered Nurse Practitioners, co-located and co-scheduled in FQHC pediatric clinics, at 2-week, 4-week, 2-month, 6-month, and 12-month infant well-child visits

Maternal Health Monitoring Intervention

Severe Maternal Morbidity Review

Augments the State of Maryland’s Maternal Mortality Review process with a Baltimore-focused Severe Maternal Morbidity (SMM) review process. The SMM will lead to enhanced and consistent facility-based quality improvement processes across Baltimore maternity hospitals; improved and more timely identification of clinically relevant trends; sharing of findings leading to improved clinical and institutional responsiveness to changing trends; and sharing of best practices in response to clinical and social determinant challenges.

Patients as Partners Initiative

Pathways Project

The Baltimore Healthy Start Pathways Project will address disparities in hypertension, Substance Use Disorder (SUD), Low Birth Weight, and Severe Maternal Morbidity for pregnant and postpartum women and their infants living in the Baltimore Healthy Start census tracts within zip codes 21216 and 21217 in Baltimore City. The project will expand existing service coordination and home-visiting projects and facilitate access to primary care and substance use treatment through referrals. Interventions include hypertension education administered by trained CHWs, home BP monitoring and tracking, peer support groups, and care coordination addressing clients’ acute stressors and SDOH needs. The Baltimore Healthy Start FQHC partner for the project will be Total Health Care.

Doula Services

The BHS doula services program is designed to implement a comprehensive doula services model that adheres to the recommendations in the report “ADVANCING BIRTH JUSTICE: Community-Based Doula Models as a Standard of Care for Ending Racial Disparities”. With this model doulas will be integrated into center-based (or virtual) group health education and support services offered by BHS, such as breastfeeding education and support and Belly BuddiesTM prenatal group education, social support, and stress-reduction activities.

BALTIMORE HEALTHY START’S 1ST ANNUAL LEADERS IN BLACK MATERNAL HEALTH AWARDS LUNCHEON

Disparities in maternal health are rooted in economic, racial and social discrimination that prevent women from accessible healthcare resulting in excessive preventable deaths. Black Maternal Health Week was created to address the social, political and economic constraints that create barriers to quality maternal care for Black women and to inspire activism in support of Black-led maternal health initiatives. In honor of Black Maternal Health Week, Baltimore Healthy Start and The Reginald F. Lewis Museum will host the Baltimore Healthy Start First Annual Leaders in Black Maternal Health Awards Luncheon to recognize exceptional African American leaders in the maternal health space.