When It Comes to Your Health, Your Zip Code Matters More Than Your Genetic Code

Today is the one year anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act and guess what? According to a recent survey, over one half of Americans don't think health reform is actually a law.

It is folks.

I'm marking the one year anniversary by attending the National Association of Black Journalists Media Institute on Health, Health Policy and Health Disparities in Washington, DC.

I heard two very profound statements today that tell the story about rampant health disparities impacting communities of color. Those two statements were not long prognostications about the social determinants of health or the root causes of these racial and ethnic inequities.

The comments indeed were about those things, but they were short enough for Twitter but utterly profound in answering those questions.

Comment #1: "Your zip code may be more important than your genetic code when it comes to health disparities."

Comment # 2: "We have a sick system not a healthcare system."

Comment 1 struck me because it alarms me that where you live is one of the key drivers of your health. According to the World Health Organization, Report on the Social Determinants of Health, avoidable health inequities arise because of the circumstances in which people grow, live, work and age and the systems put in place to deal with illness. In turn, the conditions in which people live and die are, in turn, shaped by political, social and economic forces.

That's why I was really impressed with a new initiative by The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, called Place Matters, which seeks to address conditions in the natural environment, built environment and social environment that lead to poor health. The goal is to eliminate health disparities by identifying the complex underlying causes and defining strategies to address them.

I am convinced these issues play a significant role in maternal and child health.

Comment # 2 was just too simplistically truthful to ignore. Healthcare is a misnomer for our system. It takes care of your sickness but does little to protect your health. In fact, today I learned that for every $1 spent on healthcare only 5 cents goes to prevention.

This is pathetic because so many mothers wouldn't needlessly die if there were more prevention programs and community-level interventions.

Will Health Care Reform Help the Racial Legacy of Health Disparities? Or Will Race Matters Get In The Way?

With people of color representing 50 percent of the uninsured in America, the new Affordable Health Care Act stands to represent the biggest social movement to impact our communities since civil rights.

But will it solve the health disparity issues that continue to plagues African Americans?

Recently, I attended the Families USA conference in Washington, D.C., where among other distinguished speakers, the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, spoke live addressing the conference attendees.

The president eloquently spoke of the benefits of the act, which has already dismantled that pesky "pre-existing condition" clause, which forced millions of Americans to be uninsurable by deep-pocketed insurance companies and caused thousands of others to die because of it. He was candid about the flaws in the law and reiterated his willingness to make changes in some areas.

As a self-employed mother of two who has struggled with my own health insurance issues, I listened intently to the debate that preceded the current law. And the still unfolding drama since it became law---and I just couldn't figure out why there was so much vehement dialogue against health care reform.

Was it really debatable that our system needed a major overhaul?

Having lived in London, England, and having experienced their medical care for myself and my children, I couldn't really understand what was the real problem with a universal health care system. Or with creating more options and lower costs. Not the political excuses and grandstanding, but the real issues. Especially since most of the most vocal objectors have some of the best health coverage this country has to offer. Lucky them.

The answer came to me at the conference in a dynamic panel discussion led by an extremely passionate woman--Gail Christopher, vice president for health at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. (Full disclosure: The Black Maternal Health Project is funded by the Kellogg Foundation)

After sharing her personal story of arriving at a hospital to deliver a baby only to be left in the corner because someone just assumed she was a black woman on Medicaid, she said something so simple, yet true: "Where you stand is often based on where you sit."

It took all my strength not to jump out of my seat with an uncharacteristic, "You said it, sister!!"

I clapped instead.

But where most detractors "sit" is at the table of the haves with little concern for the have-nots and a lot of selective amnesia.

They've forgotten that this country got its haves by raping, killing and stealing from the people of color they found when they got here. They forget that their history of racism and segregation, left blacks concentrated in communities with severe health risks and without access to any remedies. They choose to ignore the cumulative impact of this racial legacy and the scores of women and vulnerable children it disproportionately impacts.

They forget about environmental racism, doctor deserts, food deserts and other gaping holes that have created and maintained a systemic inequity in access to health care.

An inequity and legacy that plays out every day in high maternal mortality and infant mortality rates and poor birth outcomes in black women across all socioeconomic levels, among others.

And multiple studies have already proven that people of color receive inferior care regardless of their insurance status or socioeconomic status. (I was happy to learn that the health care law has over 75 provisions to address equity issues, including more community based health care services.)

This is an important step in the right direction.

And so, unfortunately, like so many other issues in this country, it really comes down to race. Racial tensions in this country are getting worse, not better.

Everybody knows the true wealth of a nation is the health of its people. Yet, in this country any concept of a publicly supported health care system has a stigma of helping poor people. And by poor, they think lazy. So what if your children suffer? This stigma needs to be removed.

Politicians have pulled off a near-Reagan like maneuver duping Americans into believing who really benefits from the new health care act.

Every one benefits.

But the same patriotic, Federalist Papers-reading countrymen who "want their country back" should take a fast forward real look at the country they hold so dear. By 2042 it is estimated that one in four people will be a person of color. You can take the health care reform issue to the Supreme Court if you'd like, masking your political agenda in a baseless legal challenge. But we're all in this together, with our futures inextricably linked. And we are a constituency not to be ignored.

Because unfortunately for you, my memory is not like your memory.

Talking Midwives in Midtown: an Aha! Moment

Yesterday, I met an old friend for breakfast. We met at Norma's in Le Parker Meridien hotel. As we noshed on a delicious breakfast, pondered who has actually ordered the $1,000 caviar breakfast item, we had a ground shaking conversation about the role of midwives in changing the landscape for maternal health.

My fellow diner was my good friend Shirley McAlpine, a beautifully statuesque British woman. She became my friend when I lived in London and is now doing some amazing work in the U.K and U.S. about prenatal education and natural childbirth through her popular Birthwise DVD http://birthwisedvd.com/us/ and consulting work. The tagline for Birthwise is "Your Creation. Your Choice." I love that.

Shirley had just returned from the Midwives Alliance of North American conference in the Nashville, Tenn., area and she was buzzing. Her energy was infectious. And while we are both involved with maternal health issues across the board, as two black women we are also particularly concerned about the issues in our community. So the questions began to roll. Could midwives be key to helping reduce the high pre-term birth and low birth-weight baby rate that continue to plague black women of all socioeconomic levels? Could midwives help reverse the high exceptionally C-section rates among black women and reduce the shamefully rising maternal mortality rates among black women?

Shirley and I are convinced, yes. And birth center models like The Birth Place, http://thebirthplace.org an unique midwifery and women's health center in Winter Garden, Florida run by Jenni Joseph, show impressive results in reducing pre –term births.

But, why? The answer, as it unfolded before us, was in the education that midwives provide. Expecting moms who work with midwives are more informed about the birth process than women who work with doctors only. We all know that most doctors prefer that you know less, and trust them more, so that they can do what works best for them and not deal with any pesky little questions about your own life that you may have.

After all knowledge is power.

So when a woman who has had a midwife is told she needs to be induced. She knows she can ask why, if the baby's heart rate is fine and other measures she's been educated on are still ok.

When a woman whose water has broken is told that she must be induced, a woman with a midwife may have been taught that actually unless other indicators show otherwise a baby can be fine for up to 24 hours after the water breaks. It is Hollywood that has told us otherwise, and turned the water breaking into the mad dash to the hospital event that makes for great cinema but woefully misinformed moms to be.

And when a woman has a true (not Hollywood or doctor-friendly) understanding of how long the labor process can be, she won't stand for being told that a C section is necessary because it's been five hours and she hasn't dilated. She will also have been educated on the real signs of labor, so she won't go the hospital too soon where labor can be stunted by laying in a bed and you are more likely to be given unnecessary medical interventions.

These are key pieces to the puzzle. As we know, the answer is not in the prenatal care. Women are getting that. But that hasn't improved matters. The key is in the education--an education that often does not happen in its full measure at a traditional doctor's office. And that midwives can provide.

And that nuanced understanding of how black women end up on the operating table more and remain six times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complication is worth more the $1,000 caviar.

We Need Our Village Back

For some time now, I've been lamenting the demise of our "village."

When our parents grew up the whole neighborhood helped raise them (and probably had spanking privileges). And when I grew up you could best believe that any neighbor would quickly tell my mother or father if I was ever seen someplace I wasn't supposed to be. There was an "we're all in this together" mentality and a thinking that my child is my responsibility and your child is my responsibility because at the end of the day, we are all in this community together and one success is our collective success and one failure is our collective failure and affects us all.

Somewhere along the way, we lost this village mentality. The changing economic climate has dictated that we move away from relatives or that we move often because of job opportunities. As a result, we never really grow roots in our communities anymore. We don't have our extended family of aunties, uncles and grandparents nearby anymore.

This week Women's eNews hosted a screening of Tonya Lewis Lee's powerful documentary on reducing infant mortality and improving maternal health, in celebration of the second year of The Black Maternal Health Project. It was a full house. The film, Crisis in the Crib--Saving Our Nation's Babies (view the trailer here) speaks directly to preconception health, mobilizing young people as peer educators in the movement and putting a face and voice to the infant mortality issue. The conversation afterward with Tonya and our fabulous guests was even more empowering.

We couldn't understand while infant mortality remains a taboo topic in our country's agenda. Even when you remove African American statistics from the equation, the United States still had an embarrassing ranking as far as infant mortality is concerned. We couldn't understand why maternal health is absent from the current debate about healthcare reform. And we certainly couldn't understand why very little is being done to save our most vulnerable population. There was so much that didn't make sense.

But here's what was crystal clear. We can't wait for the government to solve this crisis. Yes, we have to push for laws. But we also have to advocate in our communities to remove some of the social barriers to our health issues. We need to advocate for safe places to exercise, removing toxins from our communities, having fresh fruit and vegetables available in our communities and more.

It was clear that we need our village of womenfolk. And then some.

In Crisis in the Crib, the 'Healthy Baby Begins With You' Campaign,  takes on a peer education model. It uses college students to go into their own communities and also speak to high school students about preconception health. It goes back to that "village" mentality.

That night of the screening we deployed our own village, a room full of women of all races with personal and professional interests in embracing mothers and producing healthy babies. We thought of ways we could let our own network know about the OMH campaign, spread more awareness about the problem, or help be a part of the solution.

We saw the powerful ripple effect that could be sparked just from those in the room doing one thing. For that evening, we brought our village back. And it felt oh so good.

What can you do to help bring our village back to our babies? What more can we be doing? I'd love to hear from you. Please post a comment here.

Bruce Jenner, Breastfeeding and Keeping it Real with the Kardashians

Earlier this week, after a long day of deadlines and meetings, I was desperately in need of a mindless television moment and channel surfed my way to the "Keeping up with the Kardashians" reality TV show.

 

Have you seen this quality production?

 

Three sisters on an unclear mission. One became famous for having a big booty (an apparent first for a non-black or Latina person), another recently married an NBA superstar after two months of dating, and alas, the third, Courtney, is very pregnant. At least in this episode she was. (I know from a recent trip to the supermarket checkout line that she has already had her baby and sold all the pictures.) But I digress.

 

In this particular episode, the often reviled baby daddy, Scott, did the unthinkable. He didn't show up for a breastfeeding class. O.M.G! Courtney returns home in a huff. Scott says, he didn't think he needed to go to a breastfeeding class because it has nothing to do with him. Courtney lets him know with a few well-timed F-bombs that it absolutely does have something to do with him and if he doesn't "get on her team" immediately then the relationship is over. Drama!!

 

Scott, feeling like he just received an unwarranted tongue lashing from a hormone charged pregnant woman, heads over to talk to Courtney's step father, Olympic great Bruce Jenner. Scott tells Bruce his story. "Breastfeeding is not about me," he says, looking for manly sympathy. Bruce, in his infinite wisdom and having scaled a few hurdles in his own life, sets him straight. "It is about you. It's about support."

 

Ahhhh, a teachable moment in reality TV. I feel like notifying some authorities.

 

But yes, men, breastfeeding is about you. And you don't have to have graced a Corn Flakes box to know it. In fact, many moms say their partners' attitude and support played a major role in whether or not they continued breastfeeding. This is particularly true in the black community.

 

Consider these striking findings from a recent survey by the Bravado Breastfeeding Information Council, or BBIC. (Full disclosure: I'm an advisory board member).

 

When asked to choose the person who had the most important influence in her life as a nursing mom, almost three times as many women selected their partner (54%) over their mothers (21%), even if their mother had breastfeeding experience.

 

Approximately 70% of mothers consider their partners support to be extremely important to their overall confidence as a new mom, and their overall well-being as a nursing mother.

 

With our historically low breastfeeding rates and our woefully high infant mortality rates, it is really important to get our men on board. They are an important part of our "village."

 

If you or your partner don't know what he can do, I found these great tips for Dads.  Share them with your man.

 

1. The first thing a father can do to promote success is to create a positive family atmosphere toward breastfeeding. As a practical matter, breastfed babies need to accompany their mothers whenever possible. A father who views a baby's continual presence as intrusive will subtly undermine breastfeeding. The father who naturally assumes that his baby will accompany the couple to restaurants, movies, dinner parties, and meetings has given breastfeeding his strong endorsement. There's a big difference between a man who agrees to let his partner breastfeed and one who deliberately creates an atmosphere of success.

 

2. Fathers can play a key role in bolstering their breastfeeding partner's confidence by showering them with compliments, praising their efforts, and offering words of encouragement. When a woman is under extreme stress, a man may not know how best to support his mate. He may be uncertain whether she wants to hear, "Don't give up; you can do it!" or "You've done your best. It's okay to switch to bottle-feeding." If you are not sure how to respond to your partner, try explaining that you don't know exactly what to say, but you want to support her in any way you can. Just being a sounding board might be all she needs on a specific day.

 

3. A father can help in so many ways that it's hard to imagine why many men feel left out when their wives breastfeed. A father can go to the baby when he or she awakens and bring the hungry infant to his wife. While the mother is nursing, he can pour her a nutritious beverage, massage her shoulders, compliment her, and lovingly admire his nursing baby. After the first breast, he can burp the baby and help arouse the infant for the second side. When the feeding is complete, the father can change the infant and put him or her down to sleep.

 

In the BBIC survey, moms said, partners could best help by changing diapers, listening to them, praising them, supporting them with family and friends, and burping the baby as key examples of support. 45% of moms would like more help with chores and 36% would like their partners to get up with them at night.

 

So you see Scott, and thousands of other Scott-like men, we do need you. There is much for you to do. It is about the support. Thank you Bruce Jenner.

 

Watch this video to see the webcast of the full release of the BBIC's findings on women and breastfeeding.

 

Folic Acid and You—What Every Woman of Color Needs to Know

It’s the New Year! And who knows what 2010 will bring. According to recent stats approximately 50 percent of women aged 15-44 have at least one unplanned pregnancy in their lives. That means a good number of us may have an surprise in 2010.

 

That also means every woman of childbearing age, should be thinking about their health all day, every day. That’s why I wanted to tell you that this week, January 4-10^th, is Folic Acid Awareness Week. Sponsored by the National Council on Folic Acid (NCFA) http://www.folicacidinfo.org/pages/folicacid_info.php, the week is intended to educate all women about folic acid. If taken before and during early pregnancy from a multi-vitamin or fortified foods, folic acid can prevent from 50 percent to 70 percent of some forms of serious birth defects of the brain and spine, called neural tube defects (NTD).

 

Getting the right amount of folic acid is particularly important to Black and Latina women. Not only do Latinas have higher rates of NTD-affected pregnancies, they also have the lowest awareness about folic acid than women of other ethnic groups, and lower consumption of folic acid than white non-Hispanic women, according to recent studies.

 

In addition to preventing NTDs, increased folic acid has been linked to preventing preeclampsia, a form of severe high blood pressure that usually occurs after 37 weeks of pregnancy. The potentially fatal condition is more common in black women. Studies indicate that when black women have preeclampsia they tend to have a severe form of the disorder and experience it as early as six months in the pregnancy compared to the typical ninth month. 

 

Doctors have not yet pinpointed exactly why this disparity exists, however, one study found that black women had less folic acid and more of a certain amino acid than white women as a pre-existing condition, which put them at a higher risk during pregnancy. The findings suggest that black women take more folic acid before and during pregnancy and as early as possible. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4781703 )

 

The easiest way to make sure you’re getting enough folic acid all the time is by taking a multi-vitamin, B vitamin complex pill or folic acid pill and eating fortified foods like grains, pastas or breakfast cereals. Folate is found naturally in foods such as leafy green vegetables, beans, liver and some fruit. But for some reason, scientists have found that folic acid, the synthetic version of folate, is actually easier for your body to absorb than folate.

 

Even if you don’t have a planned or unplanned pregnancy in the cards, folic acid is pretty important to your healthy living. Studies show that folic acid reduces the risk of certain cancers; cardiovascular diseases including coronary heart disease and stroke; and cognitive diseases or mental conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, age-related dementia or cognitive decline and depression. We can all use that.

Allow Me to Introduce Myself: Kimberly Seals Allers

Welcome to the SisterSpace. Relax, get comfortable and prepare yourself for a groundbreaking conversation about our health and our lives as black women and mothers.

My name is Kimberly Seals Allers and I'm the editorial director of the Black Maternal Health project at Women's eNews. BMH is dedicated to providing unprecedented news coverage of the issues behind the high infant mortality rate among African American babies in this country and embracing all mothers in the journey of motherhood. The truth is black women are at a greater risk of losing their baby before its first birthday regardless of her education level or socioeconomic background. That's a problem.

The solution is complex.

But it starts with a keen awareness of the problem by all black women and a commitment to take better care of ourselves in general so that we enter motherhood in a healthier state.

I know this may sound simple, but it involves a complete shift in our mindsets. After all, we black women are notorious for being eternal Super Women--we put on our red cape and boots and go out to save our respective worlds. We are so good at nurturing others but fall short at taking care of ourselves.

The legacy of black women in this world is so rooted in hardship that it has become a defining element of the black female experience. Our foremothers are repeatedly portrayed as strong and emotionless creatures who took care of white women, their white children, as well as their own family. When enslaved children and adults were split up and moved to other plantations, it was the slave women who took care of the extended families who remained. In fact, as long as history has documented our existence, we have been taking care of other people. Sometimes we had no other choice, as refusing to do so could mean severe punishment or death.

Today, it's a different story. And taking care of others while neglecting our own health, is just one area of our lives that creates stress that can have serious health implications.

Even in the strongest of women, prolonged stress can lead to chronic upper respiratory infections, hypertension, heart disease and obesity. During pregnancy, stress has been clinically proven to adversely affect birth outcomes. Many experts now conclude that stress causes the release of hormones that weaken the uterus, leading to premature delivery or infant mortality. The hormone changes can occur over a lifetime, not just in pregnancy. They can build up from fear of violence, worries about paying bills, job insecurity, or standing for long periods of work. One study found that pregnancy complications were more frequent among black women who said they were dealing with racial discrimination at work or in housing situations.

That's why it is so important for us to start this new conversation. Here at SisterSpace, we'll be talking frankly about what our experience is really like and how we can manage the many stressors that may be affecting our babies' health. We'll probe into old research and ask why there isn't much new research on why our birth outcomes and maternal health statistics severely lag our white counterparts. Most importantly, we will still crafting solutions, our solutions, for saving our babies and saving ourselves.

Please join me.

Kimberly Seals Allers is also the author of The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy,(Amistad/HarperCollins) the first-of-its kind pregnancy guidebook for black women, and editor in chief of www.mochamanual.com, a daily online magazine and lifestyle destination for Black moms. An award winning journalist, Kimberly is a former writer at Fortune and a former senior editor at Essence. She lives in Long Island with her two children.

A National Day of Dialogue on Domestic Violence and Teen Dating Abuse

Last week, I was invited to Liz Claiborne's "It's Time to Talk Day" --a national day of dialogue on domestic violence and teen dating abuse, where leading voices come together for a day of radio and blogging about an issue that doesn’t get enough talk time. (Learn more at www.loveisnotabuse.org)

 

I couldn't help but feel a bit emotionally spent dealing with such a heavy and important issue. But there is another area of domestic violence that rarely gets discussed—domestic violence during pregnancy.  

 

It is estimated that one in five women will be abused during pregnancy. What’s worse, homicide during pregnancy now surpasses the previous leading causes of death (automobile accidents and falls), for pregnant women.

 

It is more important than ever that we know the signs of domestic violence and start talking about these issues in our community. 

 

Enter activist and philanthropist Malaak Compton Rock. The wife of my favorite comedian, Chris Rock, takes service very seriously (check out her many projects at http://www.angelrockproject.com/) .

 

But last week Malaak and I had a candid conversation about domestic violence in the Black community. And I think all black women and black men need to listen: 

 

Kimberly: How is domestic violence different for us?

Malaak: "The silence is killing us. I think the white community has done a good job showing that domestic violence is not a poor woman's problem. They have changed the face of domestic violence to show that educated, career women suffer as well. We haven't. "

 

Kimberly: I think that if you are "successful" and you have that positive black family image going on, there’s even more pressure to keep up that appearance and not break up another black family.

 

Malaak: “You're right. There's a lot of fear of breaking up the family, and we need more affluent women to come out of the closet. There is a fear that I'm alone. We have to take the stigma out of the issue and add more faces and voices to that pain. I think it needs to start in Black magazines and even websites like yours.”

 

Kimberly: What can our men do?

,

Malaak: "I will tell you this, my husband is very aware of how he treats me because he knows our two daughters are learning how to be treated by a man by his dealings with me. It all starts in the home. Fathers need to be involved with their daughters, teaching them what they deserve and should expect in any future relationship."

 

Kimberly: That's powerful.

Malaak: "I know this, women who are strong, confident and secure in who they are were raised by fathers who instilled that into them."

 

Even though our community has disproportionately high levels of single female-headed households, we can’t get around how important our black men are to saving our communities, our babies and ourselves.

Single and Pregnant: Telling My Story

 I've committed my life to talking about Black women having a "fabulous" and powerful pregnancy, but to be honest, there was nothing fabulous about how my pregnancy journey began.

It was the summer right before I was to begin the Knight Bagehot Fellowship and do my Master's at Columbia University and I went to London to spend the summer with my girlfriends and my new British boyfriend. Well, let's just say I came home with more than just a hankering for tea and biscuits.

We were both shocked and it was a heavy burden for a relatively new relationship. When I told my parents, my father cried. Even though I was 29, on my own and with a very successful career, it was a big family disappointment for where others saw my life going. When you are put on a pedestal, any fall is always a harder fall.

Then I got the phone call. Weeks after coming to New York for my first prenatal visit, my baby-daddy (who, just to keep you confused, I later married and am now divorcing) called to say that he couldn't deal with an unplanned pregnancy, he was confused, yadda yadda yadda . . . he's out of there. The next time I would see him, my daughter was 11 months old.

At this point in my life, I redefined loneliness. I had lost my deepest friendships, was disfellowshipped from my religious community, I had been abandoned by my child's father, my mother (because of her religious beliefs) was not able to support me, and I was in one of the most challenging fellowship programs there is. I cried every day for weeks. No seriously, every day.

And because I suffer from "Strong Black Woman" syndrome and like many of you, wear the reputation of the entire black race on my back, I refused to tell any of the truly wonderful people in my fellowship program that I had become another black statistic: Unwed mother. Absent father. Instead, I launched a black male PR campaign full of stories of his involvement, excitement, and "sorry, you just missed him" visits. Geesh!! How exhausting! (Btw, when I finally came clean with them several months later, they were the most supportive bunch ever!)

My sister said that as a "student" I could probably income qualify for WIC to help with the high prices of healthy food in New York City. And I will never, ever forget the day I walked to 125th Street and into that Harlem office and got WIC. (That is another blog!)

But I knew this baby only had me. And I was scared as hell. I knew I had pretty much no one to count on to help me through this pregnancy but myself. And so I began to research everything. In my researching to save my sanity and help my baby, I stumbled upon the sobering statistics about black women and our high rates of low birth weight and pre term pregnancies that inspired me to write my first book, The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy years later.

With the help of some great new friends, a few old ones, my sister and a lot of prayer, I survived the darkest period of my life and still had a "fabulous" pregnancy. Having a "fabulous" pregnancy is all about your mind set and nothing about your circumstance. I finished my coursework early, delivered Kayla on schedule and walked down the aisle with her in my arms to receive my Master's Degree a few weeks later. I was able to have a successful freelance career, buy a new car, get a great apartment and stay home with my little one. And I never asked for a dime (or pence) from her father. She is still my Triumph Baby.

Do you have a triumph baby? Did you overcome your circumstances to still have a "fabulous" pregnancy? I'd love to hear your story.

Pregnancy and Swine Flu. Get Answers.

Outside of the medical community, every mama, auntie or Big Mama in your family, neighborhood or church has their own old wives tale about what to do and what not to do during pregnancy.

If that weren't enough, the recent spate of H1N1/ swine flu is a real concern for everyone especially mothers of young children and pregnant women. Who should get the vaccine? Is the seasonal flu vaccine just as effective? What's in the vaccine? You see, a lot of questions.

The CDC has recommended that healthy pregnant women get vaccinated against the seasonal flu. Yet new data shows that only 20% of those who are currently pregnant plan to get a flu vaccine this season. I'm sure that number is much higher among black women.

What gives?

Well, for one, let's face it, our community tends to distrust the medical field anyway and the government runs a close second. And the internet is full of so called experts, scary stories and more, it's hard to know what is correct and what is potentially harmful.

To help, the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) and the National Women's Health Resource Center (NWHRC) have launched a new campaign, "Flu-Free and A Mom-to-Be: Protect Yourself, Protect Your Baby -- Get a Flu Shot!." The "Flu-Free and A Mom-to-Be" campaign aims to educate health care providers and their patients about the importance of both the seasonal flu and the H1N1 vaccines. You can check it out here, and download helpful information.

 

If you are looking for a safe place to ask questions, get live answers and talk to other parents, please click here to register for a free webinar on Thursday, November 19th at 8pm. The webinar is open to everyone and co-hosted by Heart and Soul magazine and MochaManual.com, my online parenting community.

 

The chat will feature two leading specialists from the American Academy of Pediatrics who will lead an open discussion and Q and A. Dr. Renee Jenkins, is chair of the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at Howard University and immediate past president of The American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Meg Fisher is a pediatric infectious disease specialist and chair of the infectious disease section of the Academy. Both of these amazing women are committed to giving our community the answers they need to make their own decisions.

Get all the info you need to protect yourself and keep you, your growing baby or newborn infant healthy. You owe your little one that much.

Seeing My Slave Roots: Thinking of the Mothers Before Me

Staring at the computer screen, I could barely make out the letters. But I will never forget what I heard. "These are likely the slave owners of your second great grandfather."

The very nice researcher from Ancestry.com had warned me when we sat down that she may have found some slave connections, but I figured, of course you would.

But staring at the Census report from 1900 and seeing the nearly illegible names felt a lot different than I expected. My mind was numb but my body had goose bumps.

Back then the Census was purely door to door. There was a large white family with sizable land listed as next door to my ancestors. And then I saw it, Phillip Billy, born in 1861 and his wife, Hagar, born in 1865. My second great grandparents on my mother's side.

And since there were no integrated neighborhoods back then, the fact that they are listed on the same street probably means that the family listed above Phillip and Hagar were likely their slaveowners--as it was gently explained to me. I stared hard at the handwriting but didn't bother to try to figure out the name. It started with an M.

The discovery was part of a mommy blogger day I attended recently hosted by Ancestry.com. A truly great experience in beautiful Salt Lake City! But as the only African American at the event, I couldn't help but notice my experience was very different from everyone else. There were plenty of stories from the staff of finding long lost ancestors in ship records, Ellis Island records, and in other countries. People were finding third and fourth great grandparents and other amazing ancestral connections. My discovery was a lot more sobering.

And the truth is, African Americans just can't trace their roots so easily. There are no records for our existence because we were not considered human beings.

If you really want to dig, the researcher also said, sometimes you can find slaves listed in the wills of landowners, often bequeathed behind cattle and other beasts of burden, she said. And because slaves could be killed for learning to read or write we were unable to document our own existence.

There was so much that I couldn't find, but was hoping to discover. I hoped to return with great stories to tell my children. That really didn't happen.

What I did find was generations of ancestors who could not read or write. Their children could not read or write. I found young babies who were listed in one year's Census but missing from the next count--they likely died. I saw large families of six or seven children of very young mothers. I saw ancestors who were only 8 years old but listed as working farmhands.

I wondered what it was like for those mothers whose babies died too soon and whose children were forced to work instead of learn. I thought about the "broken relationships" that researchers now believe contribute to poor birth outcomes today among Black women and whether these are a lingering legacy of slavery.

A report by the Joint Center Health Policy Institute called "The Courage To Love," contends that the problems of infant mortality and poor maternal nutrition are, in essence, problems of broken relationships at many levels. These broken relationships range from broken families, lack of support for breastfeeding, the decline in family meals, and the marketing of junk foods to children.

"These broken relationships create lifelong conditions of high stress and low support, which in turn pattern physiological, psychological, and behavioral responses that put the mother at risk for poor, nutrition during pregnancy, and her baby at risk for fetal and infant death. African American families are disproportionately affected by these broken relationships, which contribute to disparities in maternal nutrition and infant mortality," the report says.

In the end the report recommends that "any efforts to reduce maternal and infant mortality and morbidity must focus on the repair and support of relationships at all levels and across the life course."

The black mothers before us didn't have such insight. There was no research into their unique experience or examination of why their babies were dying. Generations later, Black mothers are still fighting for healthy babies. We now have a better understanding of why. Let's hope this insight leads to real action.