CLEVELAND — News 5 has been telling you about the challenges Black mothers face as they work to carry their babies to full term.
Here in Ohio, nearly seven babies out of every thousand born will die before their first birthday.
For Black babies, that number is two times worse — nearly 14 out of every 1,000 Black babies born in the state will die.
It’s not just babies. Mothers are at risk too. The CDC says more than 21 mothers die for every 100,000 births in our state.
For Black mothers in Ohio, the reality is even grimmer.
Deaths soar to nearly 30 for every 100,000 births, according to The Ohio Department of Health.
What can be done to make things better?
New 5 Anchor Courtney Gousman went in search of solutions and found a group making a real difference.
"I love to refer to myself as the poster child for child loss," said Samantha Williams-Pierce. For more than 21 weeks, Williams-Pierce carried her twin boys.
"I'm telling her what's going on and [their doctor] Carol's like, 'Yeah Sam, I think you need to come in and let us take a look at you," says Williams-Pierce.
In July of 2009, Sam lost her baby boys after she started leaking amniotic fluid.
At the time, Sam was the COO of a local non-profit.
"I'm running a budget of basically a million dollars and that's high stress," says Sam.
Little did Sam know she had several strikes against her when it came to being able to successfully carry and deliver a baby.
"I was actually at a conference and was asked, 'Who do you believe was the worst risk?' And it had like different answers. And one was a Ph.D.-prepared black woman. Would you believe she had the highest risk?"
Dr. Heather Rice is an Associate Professor for the school of nursing at Cleveland State University. She's also a nurse practitioner.
Since 2019, she’s been researching the factors that contribute to healthy outcomes when it comes to Black expecting moms and their babies, and those factors that don’t.
"We know that African- American women experience toxic stress at increased levels and that causes the body to experience more of these concerns related to hypertension, glucose being elevated, and the things that cause those adverse outcomes after delivery," Rice said.
Rice went on to say, "Toxic stress is experienced at increased rates for Black women, specifically because of systemic racism."
Systemic racism pervades the everyday lives of Black women — unequal pay, unbalanced educational systems, implicit bias in healthcare, microaggressions at work, and more.
This level of toxic stress not only impacts the mother, but the child she's carrying.
"In terms of the infants, we notice that prematurity is that driver directly connected to that toxic stress that the mom is experiencing during pregnancy," says Dr. Rice.
Doctor rice also says, this is one area, where socioeconomic status does not matter. No matter how much money or access a Black woman has, she’s still susceptible to these higher risks during pregnancy, because of institutional racism.
Rice explains, "We even see with celebrities such as Beyonce and Serena Williams, they also felt during their pregnancies, their voices weren't heard, they were not acknowledged."
Rice points directly to a 2020 "Project Noir” report ranking Cleveland as “The worst city for Black women,” as an explanation for why the numbers are so bad locally.
"Moms really reporting similar situations and instances that are also mentioned in that study. I believe there's a correlation in what they experience," says Rice.
The research Rice is doing is in partnership with the Cleveland non-profit “Birthing Beautiful Communities.”
“Our organization was created to ensure that babies were able to make it to their first year,” says Jazmin Long, Director and CEO of Birthing Beautiful Communities.
When B.B.C was created in 2014, says Black babies in Cuyahoga County, made up 73% of infant mortalities under the age of one, Long said.
With a staff of about 37 doulas, B.B.C. has shifted focus, making things better for expecting moms.
“It's that familiarity. It's the support system. It's the having someone be your advocate in the room with the doctor and nurses," Long said.
B.B.C. doulas not only advocate for moms during appointments and in the delivery room. They even provide out-of-the-box services like grocery shopping and transportation for that mother until her child reaches their first birthday.
"It's very evidence-based the role of doulas, specifically community-based Black doulas, working with other Black women to provide these kind of services as a tool to reduce infant death and maternal mortality," Long said.
In fact, of the thousand families this organization has touched over the last nine years, there have been no maternal deaths. Long says they have a 99% infant survival rate.
Since B.B.C. was created, the infant mortality rate for Black babies has dropped from 74% to 56%, the Cuyahoga County Board of Health reports.
"So for myself that said, you all are doing something so special, so unique, so great, let's look at what's being done, how it's being done so it can be replicated," Rice said.
Leaders at B.B.C. feel so strongly about the services they provide, they do it all for free.
"The more we address the stress, the more we notice that it improves for the baby and the mom,” Rice said.
"This is our community. We weren't going to sit idly by and just let our babies and moms keep dying. We were going to figure out how we were going to have an effective solution to solve this issue," Long said.
Rice and Long were asked to list three things a Black woman should do once she finds out she’s pregnant in order to improve her and her child’s outcome. They said to:
- Find a doula,
- Find a medical provider who makes you feel seen, heard, and respected.
- Lastly, be informed about both your medical history and the risks involved in your journey.
News 5 will be exploring many other challenges surrounding pregnancy in our new series, Delivering Better Results.
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