Grant will help educate community about racial disparities in birth outcomes
Roslyn Heights, NY, June 14, 2018 —North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, the preeminent not-for-profit children’s mental health agency on Long Island, is pleased to announced that we received a $2,800 grant from the March of Dimes Greater NY Market. The grant will go toward supporting the Birth Justice Warriors Project, an initiative that focuses on improving the health of black mothers and their babies.
The concept of the Birth Justice Warriors, an initiative co-chaired by the Guidance Center’s Dr. Nellie Taylor-Walthrust and Hofstra University’s Dr. Martine Hackett, was born out of the crippling bias and injustice faced by black and brown mothers in the United States in general and in Nassau County in particular. According to the New York State Department of Health, a black woman is up to four times more likely to die in childbirth than a white mother. In Nassau County, the infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births is 9.4 for black babies versus the 2.2 reported for white non-Hispanic babies.
The three communities at highest risk are (in order) Roosevelt, Hempstead and Westbury/New Cassel.
“I think most people are surprised—I certainly was—when they find out that an affluent suburb like Nassau County has such high infant and maternal mortality rates in certain areas for black mothers and babies, higher than it is in New York City,” says Dr. Hackett. “Lack of awareness means that these poor health outcomes are basically invisible, and if you can’t see these problems, then you can’t act on them. Birth Justice Warriors will use local residents to increase the understanding of the causes of infant and maternal mortality and what we can do about it.”
“Our goal is to bring education and awareness to this issue of inequality, which has a multitude of contributing factors,” says Dr. Taylor-Walthrust, Director of the Leeds Place, a Guidance Center site. “We’re going to educate people at all levels, from women in the community to pediatricians, nurses, health care professionals, elected officials and those in faith-based institutions. Ultimately we want legislation to be written that guarantees that this crucial information is delivered to all women of child-bearing age.”
Action is also being taken on the state level. On April 23, 2018, Governor Cuomo announced an initiative to target maternal mortality and reduce racial disparities in health outcome. The initiative includes efforts to review and better address maternal death and morbidity with a focus on racial disparities, expanding community outreach, and taking new actions to increase access to prenatal and perinatal care.
To find out more about the Birth Justice Warriors, contact Dr. Walthrust-Taylor at (516) 997-2926, ext. 229, or email NTaylorWalthrust@northshorechildguidance.org.
