"It takes a village to raise a child," the African proverb states, and activation of that village begins before birth. We strongly believe that healthy and joyous births do not happen alone. They require an entire community of support — that means not just family and friends, but also neighbors, healthcare workers, spiritual advisors, educators, and colleagues. Everyone who influences the environment in which children are born and raised can contribute to and support the next generation being healthy, safe and happy. 

The African American Infant and Maternal Mortality (AAIMM) Prevention Initiative believes that having a comprehensive system of support in place (“The Village”) prior to, during, and after birth is a crucial component in our efforts towards bringing about equity in birthing outcomes for Black women and infants. We’re encouraging you to either create and activate your own Village or to become a support to a Black mother/birthing person by:

• Identifying who “The Village” is
• Inspiring “The Village” to take action in its efforts to support healthy and joyous births for Black women and infants
• Sharing resources to equip “The Village” and pregnant birthing persons/women

Get started by checking out the profiles of some people who encompass the AAIMM Village, navigate to a section of the website that will help you step into your role as a member of The Village, or get information and resources that will help you create, cultivate, and activate your own Village. Together, we can #BeTheVillage of support for Black moms/birthing persons and their families to end the unjustly high maternal and infant deaths in Los Angeles County and usher in healthy and joyous births for all. Follow @blackinfantsandfamiliesla on Instagram for updates and use #AAIMM, #BeTheVillage, #ActivateYourVillage, and #WeAreTheVillage to share your healthy and joyous birthing stories with us. 

My motto is, “Birth, but better.” I am here to walk alongside you on this journey to your new life.

– Shanica Davis, AAIMM Doula Coordinator

"It’s imperative that the birthing experience consists of the individual feeling like they are listened to, validated, and genuinely supported."

– Shana Spinks, AAIMM Doula

This week we launched Hey bb, a text message service run by real humans to answer questions about pregnancy, birth and parenthood — from how to advocate for yourself (systemic racism is real!) to explaining just what a doula does.

Pregnancy is a joyful time for many, but it's also fraught with anxiety — with worries about childbirth and how to care for a small human being. If this is you, or someone you love, LAist wants to help NAVIGATE the pregnancy, birth and postpartum phases of having a child.

If you would like to sign up for the service, text “heybb” to 73224.

​CDPH recommends that all persons, including those that are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, get vaccinated and boosted, when eligible. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for all people 5 years and older, including people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant now, or might become pregnant in the future.

 
The guidance below is intended to answer many of the questions you may have if you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, including the importance of vaccines to yourself and your child.  You can also talk to your healthcare provider to help you in your decision whether to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Click here to visit the CA Department of Public Health website. 

This document provides guidance for people who are breastfeeding during the COVID-19 pandemic. The California Department of Public Health will update this guidance as new information becomes available.

CDPH recommends that all persons, including those that are breastfeeding, get vaccinated and boosted, when eligible.  Researchers have found that COVID-19 vaccine can be given safely to protect pregnant people and their babies. The COVID-19 vaccine may be given any time before, during or after pregnancy. Breastfeeding people may receive any of the three COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the U.S. For more information about vaccines available in California, visit our Get the Facts on COVID-19 Vaccines website.  

Additionally, the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) agree that people with COVID-19 can breastfeed. If you get COVID-19 and are breastfeeding, take precautions to lower the risk of passing COVID-19 to your baby. COVID-19 vaccines are safe for breastfeeding people and their babies. Recent reports have shown that breastfeeding people who have received COVID-19 mRNA vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer) have antibodies in their breastmilk, which could help protect their babies.

For more information, visit Breastfeeding and Caring for Newborns if you have COVID-19.

Click here to visit the CA Department of Public Health website. 

Published by Elly You via LAIST Magazine

Beyond Therapy And Around Barriers To Access

Kay, of Maternal Mental Health NOW, says she often refers patients to support programs outside of the healthcare system, which include home visitation programs, support groups and low-cost counseling run through non-profits.

“I know these kinds of workarounds…[and] unless someone finds me, I think they're just lost and getting bounced around from one provider to another,” Kay said. “That is a common experience for a patient or a family member to just be given a list of numbers to call them and still end up nowhere, because people don't take their insurance or they’re dead numbers.”

While access to therapy is limited, Kay says it’s also important to recognize that therapy is not “the be-all, end-all solution,” and that not everyone who experiences mental health issues needs clinical support.

“We try and think more holistically about treatment options and forms of care…a lot of times social support is all that's needed.”

Blackman found social support as a complement to therapy. In October of 2020, she helped create a virtual peer support group of Black parents who have borne children, called Black Mamas Glowing through the non-profit iDream For Racial Health Equity. She wanted the focus to be on the parent, because other groups she’d identified and had been a part of paid more attention to the child.

She also wanted to be part of a group that was accessible to other Black parents.

“It's great, because you can just be unapologetically yourself,” Blackman said. “You don’t have to be like ‘Oh I have to be a super woman or have it altogether,’ Like, no. You just gave birth to a baby. It’s OK.”

Blackman says she's since "graduated" from therapy and has developed the language to talk about anxiety and depression, and now refers other moms to the support systems she's found.

Greetings,

Los Angeles County Office of Violence Prevention partnered with the non-profit organization, Antelope Valley Partners for Health (AVPH), to assemble a violence prevention coalition and to collect and analyze research from the communities within the Service Planning Area 1 (SPA 1), geographically including Northern LA County. AVPH collaborated with coalition members to develop and implement five violence prevention objectives to foster safer Los Angeles communities. As part of this work, AVPH is offering a series of mini-grants. The mini-grants must be utilized to support the community action plan goals in encouraging a violence-free L.A. and in initiating post-violence healing.

Today kicks off Black Maternal Mental Health Week! And we are proud to be joining forces with mental health advocates, organizational leaders, and moms across the U.S. as we advocate for change all week! 


Created and hosted by Shades of Blue Project, this year’s #BMMHW2022 is dedicated to promoting health equity for more black birthing individual across their birth experience so we are Collectively working for greater community impact and change. Together, we can make shift happen!


Key Facts:

➤ Rates of PPD in new & expectant moms have doubled during COVID, with black moms at 2-3x higher risk but are nearly 2X less likely to receive mental health treatment.

➤ With stay-at-home orders, black moms were hit the hardest in parental duties by  spending half a day (12 hours) more on child care per week than white moms.

➤ 20 percent of women display symptoms of perinatal mood or anxiety disorder. The figure climbs to 44 percent for black women compared to white women.

➤ Black moms contend with unique challenges from the racial disparities amplified by COVID, including lack of high-quality medical care, increased stress and exposure to racial trauma, and higher risk of childbirth complications.

➤ From dismissed medical needs to birthing complications, black women are more likely to experience traumatic births and the mental health consequences that follow.

➤ Cultural barriers and a lack of representation in the mental health field continue to limit black women from seeking help. According to American Psychological Association, only 5.3% of the psychology professionals are black; and of the estimated 41,000 psychiatrists in the U.S., only 2% are black according to the American Psychiatric Association — despite making up 13% of the U.S. population. 


📢 WILL YOU DEMAND CHANGE WITH US? Urge your elected officials to support the Moms Matter Act (S. 484/H.R. 909), which addresses equity in maternal mental health — with just a few clicks!

TAKE ACTION: ow.ly/XlIi50JZExW



Learn more about this week of action at https://lnkd.in/dThHN-U

The Help Me Grow LA Community and Family Engagement Council (CFEC) is recruiting new members, with applications due August 5.  CFEC is an advisory group to Help Me Grow LA, made up of Parent Champions familiar with the experiences of children with or at risk of behavioral and developmental delays, who want to help create a more supportive and equitable early childhood system. CFEC’s role is to represent the family perspective, to help ensure that early childhood services meet the needs of families, and to ensure that families and children remain at the center of all HMG LA efforts. As thanks for sharing their time and expertise, all CFEC members will have the choice to receive gift cards or honorariums. To learn more, please read the attached FAQ or visit www.helpmegrowla.org. 

The recent shocking Supreme Court decision reversing Roe v Wade has reverberated across our AAIMM network. Not only is the decision harmful and completely lacking in compassion, it is an afront to bodily agency and stands to inequitably impact Black women/birthing persons, who experience death and dangerous complications from pregnancy and childbirth at greater rates than other groups.

Below are statements from partners and advocates in the decision:

What does a healthy and joyous birth mean to you?

A healthy and joyous birth to me is my baby being born without any complications and has all of their ligaments. A happy baby that is alert and full of smiles and love!

Who was a part of your village of support during pregnancy and the time shortly after birth? How did they help?

Both of our parents were in our village and still are today. We always say we don’t know where we would be without our village.


Where do you go to get information in general and also specifically related to childbirth, pregnancy, being a father? (apps, websites, podcasts, YouTube channels, etc.)

I would say I definitely use the internet to research things I don’t understand when it comes to being a father. I wanted to make sure I understood what my son’s mom was going through while carrying my baby.

How did you/do you participate in the pregnancy with your partner? Classes? Appointments? Other?

I made it a point to be at every doctor's appointment and class that was scheduled. I never missed an appointment.

How do you contribute as a partner in other ways?

Just making sure I’m present. I’ve realized that my presence means everything to my son then anything I can ever buy him.

What does being a father mean to you?

Being a father to me means providing all that my child needs to be healthy and happy while being vulnerable enough to know when I need help providing those things so she is always loved and cared for the way she deserves. 

How has fatherhood changed your life?

Fatherhood changed my life for the better. It added a person in my life who has challenged me to continuously grow daily and learn to adapt to the ever-changing world she is growing up in. No day is the same, no lesson too small to learn, no problem is too big to handle, and I learned that from her. 

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APRIL 11, 2022 via The Takeaway 
From Public Radio Exchange -- PRX

Black Maternal Health Disparities and Solutions

In 2017, the World Health Organization found that even though maternal mortality rates were decreasing globally, the U.S. was one of two countries to experience a significant increase in its maternal mortality ratio. What this means is that women and other birthing people in the U.S. are "dying before, during, and after childbirth" at a rate higher than any developed nation in the world, with Black women and Black birthing persons 3 times more likely to die from pregnancy related complications than their white counterparts.

Summary and Purpose

Consistent with its mission to fight for the health of all moms and babies, March of Dimes issued a July 2018 Position Statement on Maternal Mortality and Morbidity , released a report on maternity care deserts, and is developing an approach to address the “poor quality and differential care” that contributes to the higher rates of maternal morbidity and mortality experienced by women of color.1 This interim Position Statement on Doulas and Birth Outcomes will be part of a broader March of Dimes approach to these issues that is under development. It provides evidence and guidance to support March of Dimes participation in advocacy efforts related to doula care as they arise nationally and locally. It also can serve as an education tool about the importance of doulas as a part of the birth team.