Doctors’ Unconscious Racial Biases Trigger Maternal Health Crisis
Black women are dying in childbirth 2½ times more often than white women, according to federal statistics, and USA Today looks at the experiences of some African American women who felt they were not adequately treated. In other public health news, a doula who helps women in substance abuse recovery and some exercise advice.
USA Today:
Black Women Dying In Childbirth; Race Plays Into Maternal Health Care
At six months pregnant, Iaishia Smith asked her nutritionist to recommend a snack high in protein to control her blood sugar level. The nutritionist's first suggestion? "Something left over from dinner such as fried chicken."“Here I am, 35 years old, pregnant, there's diabetes, history of stillbirth. And you're telling me, a Black woman, to eat fried chicken?" said Smith, a program manager at Cisco Systems who lives in Avenel, New Jersey. "I told her: 'I can't imagine that fried chicken is a good nighttime snack. Is that something that you'd recommend to all of your patients?'" (Ramaswamy, 9/9)
Stat:
Covid-19 Is Taxing The Support System For Pregnant Women In Recovery
[Carrie] Diehl’s work as a doula includes what you might expect: talking pregnant people through aches and pains, providing labor support, helping parents learn how to breastfeed. But as a peer mentor doula for mothers in recovery, she also supports clients when they relapse, models sobriety coping skills, and celebrates recovery anniversaries. Most of Diehl’s work involves personal contact, often holding a newborn while a single mom takes a precious half hour to herself. But Covid-19 has complicated all of her work, from offering transportation to the physical closeness of postpartum doula care. (Proujansky, 9/10)
In other public health news —
The New York Times:
Exercise May Make It Easier To Bounce Back From Stress
Exercise makes it easier to bounce back from too much stress, according to a fascinating new study with mice. It finds that regular exercise increases the levels of a chemical in the animals’ brains that helps them remain psychologically resilient and plucky, even when their lives seem suddenly strange, intimidating and filled with threats. The study involved mice, but it is likely to have implications for our species, too, as we face the stress and discombobulation of the ongoing pandemic and today’s political and social disruptions. (Reynolds, 9/9)
The Washington Post:
Why Stretching Is Important During The Pandemic
Stretching doesn’t get the respect it deserves. Most exercisers absent-mindedly engage in just a few minutes of it before or after a workout, which certainly feels good but isn’t enough to promote flexibility or any of stretching’s other benefits. According to experts, stretching should be approached not only as a preview or addendum to other physical activity, but also as an essential stand-alone workout. And it’s especially important now. After months of quarantine inertia, stretching can be a low-impact, nonthreatening gateway to a more active lifestyle, either for those who have fallen out of a fitness routine or who are interested in starting one. (Heath, 9/9)
