American Native Indian, Alaskan Native (AI/AN) populations and Black women are more than three times more likely than white women to die from pregnancy-related complications in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC attributes the disparities to unequal access to care, structural racism and implicit biases in the health care system that also can lead to a higher prevalence of underlying health conditions that complicate pregnancy.
Social inequality gets embodied through adaptational responses that negatively impact biological function and contribute to population differences in disease burden (Krieger). African American households rank behind all major racial/ethnic groups in annual household earnings, are at the highest poverty rates and uninsured at higher levels, a major social factor that contibutes to health disparities.
In the Los Angeles County health system, women have to wait 1 to 3 months to see their physician specialist, such as a Urogynecologist, and then must wait an additonal 6 months or more to see a pelvic floor physical therapist. This fund is to help address the immediate need of access to care for young mothers that require immediate support for their physical and emotional needs. The first phase of this fund will meet the need of providing no cost pelvic floor physical therapy services. Future phases will include support for lactation consultants, nutritional support, psychotherapy, providers to build resiliency and general well-being, and other individually identified needs to give these moms their best outcomes.
Through industry contacts, we are often able to supply no cost medical devices, such as home pelvic floor biofeedback equipment, following evidenced-based guidelines, as part of their home program instructed by skilled pelvic floor physical therapists.
If you would like to donate to this fund, please click here (insert donation link) or email us for more details.
Sources:
Fitzgerald, C et al. Implicit Bias in Health Care Professionals: A Systematic Review. BMC Medical Ethics. 2017; 18:19.
Dominguez, TP et al. Adverse Birth Outcomes in African American Women: The Social Context of Persistent Reproductive Disadvantage. Social Work in Public Health. 2011; 26:3-16.
cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternal-mortality/index.html