- Video shows A Mother's Love, CDC statistics and babies.
- Sydney Shead, with I Be Black Girl shares the importance of doulas and the organizations goals to lessen the trauma of Black mothers.
- Gabrielle Brooks, a mother of four shares her experience with working with doctors and the challenges finding answers when it comes to her health.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
In 2024 the death rates for Black birthing individuals are still on the rise. One organization out of Atlanta has partnered with I Be Black girl and other organizations in Omaha to raise awareness.
"A lot of times black women aren’t heard and and that’s what some of the research shows us that women have expressed their pain. They’ve expressed concerns. Maybe they are going into labor early and they’re sent home. they’re saying that they have pain or that somethings not right and they’re just not heard,” said Sydney Shead.
Sydney Shead, a doula and the Birth Justice Program Associate at I Be Black Girl is working to make a change.
"We inform equip and train Black doulas to go out and work within the community because we know that there’s better maternal and child health outcomes for families that have doulas....especially doulas that understand where they come from, and can identify with them culturally,” said Shead.
According to the CDC Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White women.
Gabrielle Brooks, a mother of four had her own challenges during and after giving several births.
"The pain through my hands not just through my hands all the way up to my shoulders and it’s because it’s not like oh it’s just a little pain. No, it felt like needles. I felt like somebody like taking a nail hammer along the whole entire way,” said Brooks.
Brooks says the pain was so bad she wasn’t able to hold or feed her own child. However she did go to doctors.
"They were like well we don’t know what it is… I said well you guys need to look into it. So I left that alone and I kept you know doing the research of finding different doctors that actually look into hands looking into you know arthritis,” said Brooks.
Brooks was told by several doctors her pain would pass but the pain is still present along with the frustration of not being heard.
"It sucks because you go through a pattern of going through doctors that will listen about it but the downside is oh do they really care?,
Recently Kristal Anderson a former Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader died after going into cardiac arrest due to sepsis.
This happening shortly after giving birth to a stillborn. Shead says status aside Black women are dying when it comes to bringing new life into the world.
That are highly educated have good insurance you know, financially, stable, partnered, Black women that are still losing their lives," said Shead.
While this week is honored nationally, October is Nebraska's Black Maternal Health Month. During that week several organizations will help highlight the disparities in the community and provide resources.
