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Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Racial and ethnic disparities continue in pregnancy-related deaths. (2019, September 06). Retrieved April 15, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2019/p0905-racial-ethnic-disparities-pregnancy-deaths.html

• The Center for Disease Control and Prevention  ensured most pregnancy-related deaths could have been prevented. Additionally, they suggested level of education has nothing to do will number of deaths, therefore it is a nationwide problem. This source gave me two argument ideas that hospitals should undergo when handling ALL women in labor; implement standardized protocols quality improvement initiatives, especially among facilities that serve disproportionately affected communities and identify/address implicit bias in healthcare that would likely provide improvement in patient-provider interaction.

Deirdre Cooper Owens PhD “The American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) from the American Public Health Association (APHA) Publications.” American Public Health Association (APHA) Publications, ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305243.

• The American Public Health Association was useful in separating the rates of mortality from childbearing and medicine relations to United States chattel slavery, being able to focus on each individually. Throughout the source it supports the idea that the medical profession has been entangled in the insitution of slavery from its beginnings. 

Novoa, Cristina, and Jamila Taylor. “Exploring African Americans’ High Maternal and Infant Death Rates.” Center for American Progress, www.americanprogress.org/issues/early-childhood/reports/2018/02/01/445576/exploring-african-americans-high-maternal-infant-death-rates/.

• The Center for American Progress addressed trends in maternal and infant mortality while discussing the cumulative effects of racism on maternal and infant health. The source also acknowledged common risk factors that are more prevalent that can contribute to the tragedy. At the same time, emphasizes that those risk factors can not fully explain African Americans higher maternal and infant mortality rates. Additionally, I will use quantitative date from a scholarly source to display the massive amount of tragedies

1. On a scale 1-10, how was your birthing experience?
2. Do you think health care professionals could have done better through the process?
3. What issue was at hand?
4. How long did it take for them to notice something was not right?
5. Do you think this is something they should have foreseen?
6. What did they do after your blood pressure would not go down?
7. What were your initial thoughts?
8. Do you believe the issue you were faced with could happen to any women giving birth or more specifically in African American women labor?
9. Additionally, did you experience any instances where you felt medical practices were bias because of race?
10. How did they react to your pain?

1. 8
2. I feel like there’s always room for improvement, but they did a great job. I just wasn’t comfortable being there with a catheter, hooked up to all kinds of meds, and being checked down there was very uncomfortable
3. I had developed preeclampsia so I was monitored closely and told not to move from the bed. I had to have all kinds of medicine hooked to me also because of the high blood pressure.
4. My high blood pressure was noticed at my last check up with my OB, as soon as he seen the high blood pressure I was admitted into the hospital at 38 weeks.
5. No I do not think this is something they could have foreseen.
6. When I first got there they hooked me up to medicine to bring down my blood pressure.
7. I was scared because I read about the dangers of preeclampsia.
8. I believe that any woman can experience what I experience. Any woman can develop preeclampsia no matter the race.
9. After I had my son, they questioned me a lot about a drug I had in my system. I’m not sure if it was race related, but I told them multiple times that the drug was in my system because my OB prescribed it to me for my headaches. They asked me over 4-5 times about it, and I felt a little weird about it because I feel like once I tell one nurse why that drug is in my system then the message should have been relayed to the next nurse.
10. When I was being checked for dilation, and getting my water broke that was the worse pain I ever experienced. The epidural wasn’t to much pain like I expected it to be. Having a C section I think allowed me to not experience as much pain as other women who have their babies natural.

White, Deborah G. Arnt I a Woman?: Female Slaves in the Plantation South. Norton, 1999.

• (Chapter 3) This source was useful in providing history of birthing practices and more specifically the lifestyle that was endured by impregnated, enslaved African American women. With that, it gives you the ability to analyze it and put into perspective how this may play a role in healthcare today. 

Leasia Taylor. She has experienced how important intense medical care is when giving birth, which almost costed her life.

Laura’s presentation affects my interaction with my university work because it made me realize that I may have to search for information beyond just the internet.

Additionally, she has shown how to use the internet to our advantage. She did this by showing how to search narrowly on google, so we can get exactly what we are looking for. She also showed how you can use google maps to track where the issue was and compare it to how it looks now.