Bon Secours details plans to increase medical access in city’s East End

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Bon Secours Richmond welcomed the positive statement from the Richmond Health Coalition about its plans to improve health care in the East End, which the Free Press reported in the April 6-8 edition.

“Bon Secours appreciates the coalition’s willingness to have private, meaningful conversations with us about our ‘Community Today, Community Tomorrow: Pathway to Wellness in the East End’ initiative,” spokeswoman Jenna Green stated in response to a Free Press request for comment on the statement Brian Bills, a coalition leader, issued on behalf of the coalition. According to the statement, the coalition declared a ceasefire on further criticism of Bon Secours, viewing the plan as enabling Bon Secours to meet its obligations.

The coalition, though, promised to monitor the hospital system’s actions to ensure that it followed through on its promises.

Ms. Green stated that the three-year Community Today, Community Tomorrow plan unveiled in January was developed using “data gathered from the East End community, for the East End community.”

She stated the plan has four components: Increasing access to medical services, focusing on wellness and prevention, growing Bon Secours’ partnerships and recruiting and training physicians and associates. That includes expanding and upgrading health care services at Richmond Community.

“Bon Secours is confident this plan will positively impact health outcomes” among East End residents, she continued, adding that quarterly updates on the plan would be posted on a dedicated webpage, www.bonsecours.com/ communitytodaycommunitytomorrow

The health coalition was organized last fall in reaction to a New York Times exposé alleging that Bon Secours had improperly spent millions of dollars from a federal drug discount program that it received through Richmond Community.

The newspaper claimed the Catholic health care system diverted program funds to build clinics and operations in wealthier suburbs while cutting back services the East End hospital. Bon Secours denied the allegation as baseless.

Summit to address Black women, birthing and reproductive health

Free Press staff report

In Virginia, Black women are three times more likely to die than white women during childbirth or due to pregnancy-related causes, according to Birth in Color RVA, a birth, policy and advocacy nonprofit focused on raising awareness surrounding maternal health and reproductive justice.

One way the group will further its goal to bridge the gap between maternal and reproductive health justice is by hosting a daylong session of speakers, workshops, and interactive learning during its April 14 Black Maternal Health Summit.

“Our maternity care system is failing Black women,” BINRVA notes on its website. “Our goal is to bring attention to unacceptable racial disparities in our maternity care systems, get out of our silos and equip all attendees with additional knowledge and tools to raise awareness and bring positive action to the issues that affect women at one of the most vulnerable times of their lives.”

“Without reproductive justice there is no justice in maternal health,” according to summit organizers. “Overall health, sexual education, abortion and contraception care are key factors to helping maternal health outcomes.

Birth in Color encourage nurses, physicians, social workers, family practitioners, pediatricians, Doulas, midwives and nurse practitioners, along with other health care professionals, to attend the summit to determine ways to improve maternal and reproductive health vitality for Black women.

Speakers include:

Jennie Joseph, founder and executive director of Commonsense Childbirth, and creator of The JJ Way®, a common sense approach designed for women and children. A British-trained midwife, she is an expert on women’s health: healthy pregnancies, healthy deliveries and healthy babies.

Ms. Joseph also advocates “for systematic reform that puts women and babies first in health care; before profit, convenience and the numerous reasons America trails other developed nations in healthy births,” her biography states.

Harriet Washington, a medical ethicist, who makes the case for broader political consciousness of science and technology, challenging audiences to see the world differently and challenge established paradigms in the history of medicine.

Her latest book, “Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Medical Consent,” discusses how the right of Americans to say “no” to risky medical research is being violated.

The Summit begins at 9 a.m. at U-Turn in Richmond, 2101 Maywill St. Tickets may be purchased at https://givebutter.com/ blackmaternalhealthweek