The Relentless School Nurse: Black Midwives & Mamas Matter

The See You Now Podcast is created in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson and the American Nursing Association. It is hosted by Shawna Butler, a nurse economist, and health technology specialist, and expertly produced by Rebecca McInroy. The current episode of See You Now – “Black Midwives & Mamas Matter” brings reproductive justice front and center, exactly where it belongs.

The CDC reports that Black mothers die at three to four times the rate of White mothers and that the mortality rate of Black infants is higher than that of any other ethnic group in the U.S. Regardless of income and education level, childbirth for Black women is more dangerous than it is for White women. Even tennis legend Serena Williams had a dangerously close call during her pregnancy. In examining why these disparities are so stark, it is clear that structural and systemic racism, racialized health inequities, and implicit bias not only play a role but also signify areas within our society that desperately need improvement. In this episode, we hear from three healthcare innovators who personally and professionally—as Black women and advisors to the Black Mamas Matter Alliance—work tirelessly to advance policy grounded in human rights and reproductive justice to improve Black maternal health and lives. Tune in to hear Jennie Joseph, LM, CPM, RM, Founder and Executive Director of Commonsense Childbirth and Founder of the National Perinatal Task Force; Joia Crear-Perry, MD, Founder and President of the National Birth Equity Collaborative; and Monica McLemore, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN, Tenured Associate Professor at the University of California, San Francisco and member of the Bixby Center of Global Reproductive Health, share their wisdom, outrage, approach, and perspectives on the causes and solutions to Black maternal health disparities in the United States. – retrieved from See You Now Podcast

Episode Resources

· https://blackmamasmatter.org/

· https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2019/p0905-racial-ethnic-disparities-pregnancy-deaths.html

· https://19thnews.org/2020/08/democrats-focus-new-legislation-on-the-pandemics-effect-on-maternal-mortality/

· https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2020/04/14/483114/community-based-doulas-midwives/

· https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2019/05/02/469186/eliminating-racial-disparities-maternal-infant-mortality/

· https://www.today.com/video/-this-is-not-a-new-crisis-how-jennie-joseph-is-working-to-change-maternal-mortality-rates-1488326723774

· https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/covid-19-is-no-reason-to-abandon-pregnant-people/

The brilliant team behind See You Now:

Shawna Butler is a nurse economist and tech enthusiast. As the creator of the EntrepreNURSE-in-Residence role at Radboud University Medical Center (Netherlands) and part of the Exponential Medicine team at Singularity University (US), Shawna works with the pioneers in the thick of integrating robotics, 3D printing, drones, AI, blended reality, voice recognition, digital humans, big data and sensors into our health solutions and lifestyles. Her clinical experience includes emergency, cardiac, and critical care in large university and small community hospitals, international medical flight transport, and workplace health promotion services.

Rebecca McInroy is an award-winning public media show creator, host, and executive producer. The shows she creates, produces and hosts are all in line with what she thinks is audio’s greatest asset; to link the general public to ideas, innovations, conversations, and intellectual and artistic communities around the globe.