Community advocate Shalese Clay joined me on KTC to share ways she and others are working in the city to help ensure infant and maternal health through Cradle KC and Every Baby To 1. She taught me the ABC's of safe sleep and we discussed the importance of planning a pause between children. In fact, the Community Health Council of Wyandotte County's 'Plan Your Pause' campaign has a goal to educate mothers and families about how good it is for her health and the baby's health to wait around 18 months between pregnancies.
It's the start of Black History Month, and we kicked it off by having real talk about the disparities in medical care for black and BIPOC patients. If black women are much more likely to die during pregnancy and post-partum in the US, and black babies are more likely to survive infancy if they had a black doctor, only one thing is responsible for it - racism. Systemic racism, direct racism, doesn't matter. There's no reason beyond racism that can explain away why black and brown mothers and babies are dying disproportionately in this country.