pay special attention to whether women who present with high blood pressure have given birth within the preceding six weeks.
REACHING OUT
A SAFER PREGNANCY FOR BLACK WOMEN INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS ADDRESS DISPARITIES IN MATERNAL HEALTHCARE.
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n daily safety huddles, doctors and nurses reported their concerns about some of their maternity patients. “We would see a pregnant patient with high blood pressure that needed to be controlled because of the risks to both her and the fetus,” says La Shawn Jemison, MSN, MBA, RN, Director of Patient Care, Perinatal Services, at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center (NBI). “We’d want them to stay for treatment, but we found that many could not because they had to get back to other children at home. How could we keep track of how those women were doing?” So NBI began a Blood Pressure Monitoring Program, providing at-risk patients KHALID SAWAGED, DO
with a kit for at-home monitoring of symptoms and blood pressure. “Now, we can help them manage their blood pressure even when they can’t be here,” Jemison explains. The program is just one facet of NBI’s efforts to reduce maternal mortality among its patients. With funding from the Greater Newark Health Care Coalition, NBI also began to distribute expanded “new mom” kits to women in their third trimester, including a diaper bag, digital thermometer, cloth mask and educational materials. In addition, NBI hopes to offer a doula program through the outpatient Women’s Health Center to support women through pregnancy and postpartum. For inpatients, NBI’s Meds to Beds program ensures that a woman has her prescriptions in hand at the time of her discharge from the hospital. And NBI’s emergency healthcare providers
The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate among high-income, developed countries—and New Jersey is near the bottom of the list, ranked 47th out of 50 states. Within that grim statistic is even worse news: Black women are five times more likely to die from pregnancyrelated complications, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2018. “We’ve been taking a proactive role and addressing healthcare disparities for some time now,” says Khalid Sawaged, DO, Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at NBI and a member of RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group. “But when those statistics came out, we knew we had to do even more to address the many community-specific barriers to healthcare.” NBI is reaching out to help patients where they live. “We know that, because of transportation issues, a doctor visit can be a multi-hour or all-day affair for many of our patients,” says Dr. Sawaged, “so we’re finding ways to bring healthcare to them.” Two satellite locations, at 50 Union Avenue in Irvington and 671 Mount Prospect Avenue in Newark, have opened. A mobile maternity unit is in the works. The team is also working on a program they call “centering pregnancy,” in which small groups of pregnant women meet for education and mutual support. The effort is ongoing. “We’re making progress in so many ways,” says Dr. Sawaged. “I want all pregnant women in our community to know that we understand the challenges that may present themselves, and we will work with you, with great respect, to help you get the care and support you need.”
To learn more about the award-winning care at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, call 973.926.4176 or visit www.rwjbh.org/maternity.
Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
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