Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who chairs the committee, briefly interrupted the hearing to say, “For the record, that’s not true” — pointing to placebo-controlled studies of the rotavirus, measles and HPV vaccines.
In July, U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed a similar initiative to California’s, focused on the quality of maternal care nationwide: the first baseline health and safety requirements for maternal emergency and obstetric services in hospitals.Experts said getting maternal mortality under control at a national level requires tailoring solutions to individual communities, which is easier when programs are locally run.
New York City has a goal of reducing maternal mortality overall — and specifically achieving a 10% drop in Black maternal mortality by 2030. Statewide, Black residents are about four times more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth than white residents.Dr. Jacob Lenz performs an ultrasound at the Oklahoma State University obstetrics and gynecology clinic in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/Mary Conlon)Dr. Jacob Lenz performs an ultrasound at the Oklahoma State University obstetrics and gynecology clinic in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/Mary Conlon)
The city is starting with, among others, low-income residents and those living in public housing. The New Family Home Visits Initiative gives pregnant people and those who’ve given birth visits from professionals such as nurses, midwives, doulas and lactation consultants. Vasan said more than 12,000 families have gotten visits since 2022.Nurse Shinda Cover-Bowen works for the initiative’s Nurse Family Partnership, which has her visiting some families for 2 1/2 years, well beyond the pregnancy and birth. She said “that consistency of someone being there for you and listening to you and guiding you on your mother’s journey is priceless.”
Being grounded in the local community — and its history — is also crucial for Healthy Start projects. The lingering effects of racism are evident in Tulsa, where in 1921, white residents are estimated to have killed 100-300 Black people and
, churches, schools and businesses in the Greenwood section. That’s where Jackson lives now, and where health disparities persist.She adopted him four years ago as a pup and immediately fell head over heels for him. Since then, on the anniversary of the day he arrived home, she gets a cake and hosts a party to celebrate Jerome.
“I once spoke to a person who can talk to animals and she told me that he once was a gift for someone, but was later abandoned and beaten, so he carried a lot of trauma,” Viquez said.“We are now very happy together and it was a fortune to have found each other.”
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