This month, we get REAL in exploring the incredible power of community-based, BIPOC-led doulas and how they're changing the game for birthing families. The numbers don't lie. The truth is that Black birthers have a 53% higher risk of dying in the hospital during childbirth - no matter their bank account size, insurance status, or any other social determinant of health. So what gives? As LaVie Montgomery of Sistas Caring 4 Sistas (SC4S) shared, "It all comes down to race."
SC4S is flipping the script by bringing fierce advocacy and hands-on support to help tackle the maternal health inequities hitting US Black mothers hardest. Join us in this important conversation.
We'll see you same time, same place next month. Until then, peace.
This month, we get REAL in exploring the incredible power of community-based, BIPOC-led doulas and how they're changing the game for birthing families. The numbers don't lie. The truth is that Black birthers have a 53% higher risk of dying in the hospital during childbirth - no matter their bank account size, insurance status, or any other social determinant of health. So what gives? As LaVie Montgomery of Sistas Caring 4 Sistas (SC4S) shared, "It all comes down to race."
SC4S is flipping the script by bringing fierce advocacy and hands-on support to help tackle the maternal health inequities hitting US Black mothers hardest. Join us in this important conversation.
We'll see you same time, same place next month. Until then, peace.
We're profoundly, profoundly interconnected. We don't always live that way, we don't always acknowledge it, but if we're going to hear it, we have to live it, experience it and create institutions that celebrate it.
Speaker 2:Can we create a we where no one's on the outside of it?
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Uplift. With Zedek, we'll talk for real change. My name is Libby Kiles and I am the Director of Community Grantmaking for Zedek Social Justice Fund Today. Today, today, we are highlighting one of our amazing grantees in Sisters Carrying Forest. Sisters, before we get started, we're here to build authentic community relationships and help fuel social transformation in Asheville, north Carolina. We believe collective liberation is not only possible, but probable as we share, listen and learn together. We're here for the process. However, the views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities that they represent. So with me today we have two members of our Zedek staff, michael and Jennifer, and I'll let them introduce themselves in just a second. And then we have the phenomenal, the amazing, lavie Montgomery, with Sisters Carrying for Sisters. Michael, you want to introduce yourself and we'll keep it moving.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I must really say my name is Michael Hoban. I'm the Director of Communications at Zedek.
Speaker 3:And hello, I'm Jennifer Langton and I'm the Director of Organizational Grantmaking and Fundor Advocacy at Zedek.
Speaker 1:All right and without further ado, miss LaVie. Good morning everyone.
Speaker 4:My name is LaVie Montgomery and I'm the Director of Operations at Sisters Carrying for Sisters. Thank you for having me here today.
Speaker 1:Thank you for being here with us today. We are so excited to talk about Sisters, carrying for Sisters and the amazing work that you are doing in our community. So let's get started. Can you talk a little bit about the state of maternal health care, particularly for black women?
Speaker 4:Absolutely so. A lot of you all might know, we're currently in a maternal mortality crisis. Not only that, but infant mortality crisis. Black and brown women are three to four times more likely than our white counterparts to pass during birth. That's crazy, absolutely crazy. Despite any social determinant of health access to education, level of education, access to health care Nothing matters. It all boils down to race.
Speaker 1:So tell us about Sister's Caring for Sisters and what you're doing in this area.
Speaker 4:Absolutely so. Sister's Caring for Sisters is a community-based doula program founded by women of color, for women of color to benefit from an evidence-based form of birth support. We train doulas to work in partnership with community members to see the equitable outcomes as a part of eliminating the health care disparities for birthing families within the Asheville community. So we support them in so many different ways. The six pillars of a doula are the informational support we have, the emotional support, physical support. We're there for the families and the partners during before and postpartum, as well as the mothers and the baby.
Speaker 4:And there's that advocacy piece when you're giving birth, you're at your most vulnerable state physically, mentally, emotionally. So having someone to stand up for you, to advocate for you, to tell them your birth preferences, to amplify the voices of the birther, is what we do and that shows up in so many type of ways, whether that's a massage, whether that is. Hey, I'm curious, can we, can we slow it down a little bit so the mother or the birthing community member understands what's going on right now? Give them a chance to think before they make a choice. So we want to make sure they have evidence-based, informed decisions within our scope of work and then we'll refer them to a clinical specialist. If it's outside of the scope of the work that we do, because we are non-clinical support.
Speaker 1:And you know, I heard you say it really boils down to race. And while I'm not an expert on this matter, I do read and I listen to the news and I remember specifically when Serena Williams had her child and she had I think it was a pluminary embolism and she had gone and talked to people and said, look, this is my body. I know what's happening to my body. We know statistically that doctors struggle to listen to black patients and specifically black women. What are the ways? Does what other ways does sisters caring for sisters advocate on the behalf of black women, and can you tell us a little bit more specifics of what you do as a doula before birth?
Speaker 4:Absolutely so. We have childbirth training classes. We let the mother know what to expect. Let's say they aren't aware of postpartum depression, what that looks like. Give them training so that if those signs or symptoms come up in themselves they can be like whoa, here's what I'm feeling.
Speaker 4:I remember you going over this training with me just to prepare them on things that are common and sometimes stigmatized, to make them feel comfortable like you're not alone. We are here to support you. Here are the resources in the community. Not only let me refer you, but let me hold your hand and guide you and let you know that throughout this process I am here to support you and we're a reflection of the population that we serve. So that cultural competency piece, that racial piece, that linguistic piece, it matters. It matters. If it boils down to racism, then we need somebody that speaks the same language, has the same experiences, showing up in those spaces for us when we're most vulnerable. So that's how sisters just a few of the ways sisters care for sisters shows up in our community for people that look like us and people that don't look like us.
Speaker 4:We don't just serve black and brown populations. We work with substance misuse families, birthing families, and so, whether that's a child that's born on drugs, we're there to support the mother, the where's there to support the family, any process of the experience. We are there to advocate, to amplify their voices. So we serve all birthing families in the Asheville and beyond community. We're showing up in Mecklenburg County and Charlotte, we're in Greensboro, we're in Forsythe County and Winston Salem, so this expands. Our movement is not just we're based in Asheville, north Carolina, but as we continue to grow and see the impacts of our work in our community to fight against this mortality, the maternal mortality crisis, you can see that it is evident that we are those disparities that we see with reducing C-sections, the bleeding after giving birth, which is much, much higher for black women. We are actually there. Birth equity we are at the center of birth equity and doing this work and supporting our family.
Speaker 2:So you mentioned birthing families and like language is so important.
Speaker 4:It is.
Speaker 2:So why birthing families? Why that term? Can you expand?
Speaker 4:Absolutely so. Not everyone identifies as a mother. Not everyone has the same method of parenting and giving birth or their identity matters. So if you are in the community and you simply are birthing a child, regardless of how you, what is your pronoun we are there to support you. That's beautiful. That is important in the work centering equity, gender equity, racial equity. How does that show up in healthcare? It's what we do in our daily work.
Speaker 1:And it's what you do differently, and I think that's the part that is so important. And, listeners, what you can't see is the vivaciousness in LaVie's face as she's talking about this amazing work that she does with Sisters Caring for Sisters. So you know we love a good story. So can you tell us what was the origin story for Sisters Caring for Sisters?
Speaker 4:Absolutely so. Back in 2016, Sisters Caring for Sisters was founded by four black women Cindy Smart, Nikita Smart, Joaquina Robertson and Chah-Dee Opuelo. They were living in Pescaview and they learned that black women were dying during birth and they were shot to learn the statistics. And then they found out a training a birth equity and a doula training and they took the program and they were like I'm not alone. This is my experience too. So not only have the founders had adverse birthing experiences and realized that this isn't isolated. This isn't an isolated incident. This is something that is happening in our community, impacting black women. So when the mission was established to really push through that birth equity for women of color, it's personal. This isn't just work. This is personal. This has impacted all of the staff. Every single one of our staff members has had an adverse birth experience, myself included.
Speaker 1:Thank you for sharing that. So can you share with us what are the long-term impacts of racial disparities in black maternal health outcomes on individuals, families and communities in the US?
Speaker 4:Oh my gosh. So if you're thinking about the historical harm that has been done against black, black and brown bodies for centuries body parts and museums or do you want to think about in the 1970s during the experimentation on black bodies with sterilization? That's within. I have a sister, so that is within this lifetime. We walk around and see individuals in their 40s who have experienced that, have seen this going on in our community. We see the harm that has been done. So what does harm do? It eliminates community. It eliminates trust, it creates fear, it increases the gaps of disparity and we've seen it for so long. Trauma is defined as too fast, too much, too fast, too soon.
Speaker 1:Will you repeat that?
Speaker 4:Too much, too fast, too soon. That is trauma.
Speaker 2:So B this is like. Well, we're not talking about black women not taking their prenatal vitamins. Absolutely, you're talking about a systemic racism that is attacking deliberately designed to do so black families, black bodies, and so this advocacy piece is crucial, and the fact that you handhold and you're there with them from start and all the way postpartum, I mean that's beautiful and crucial.
Speaker 4:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Can you tell us just a little bit more about how that advocacy piece kind of fits into this equation? In the delivery room.
Speaker 4:Absolutely so. If any of you all have had children, you know that labor and delivery is highly emotional, physically difficult, scary, absolutely scary, and that fear is Magnified for a lot of women who look like me. And so when you're in labor and delivery and you walk in and you're checked in with your doula, you're already in conversation with your doula before you head to the hospital and most of the time will meet them there, get them checked in. Whether it's an induction. So we're gonna check in with our client, we're gonna make sure that they're comfortable, we're gonna make sure that their partner and their staff have their family and the staff at the hospital is aware of what their preference is. You can have a birth plan but, as you know, with labor and delivery and it didn't can happen at any moment. So we can have your preferences, but ultimately it depends on the process and how everything is going to see if we can stick to those preferences, and we try to as much as possible.
Speaker 4:We can't prevent the emergencies, of course, but if there are, we're still there to support them, um, giving them the information that they need. If a doctor walks into the office and tells them that, hey, we're gonna offer you. We need to go ahead and move forward the Contractions there. They're spread out too long and they want to insert a balloon. Do our clients know that there is some pain associated with this? And hey, can we get a second to talk over with them so they can understand what this could possibly feel like? Or Ask the doctor to explain the process? Because there's a sense of urgency. We live in a culture of urgency. We have to act fast, respond fast, make life changing decisions and a split second so pause.
Speaker 4:My motto right now is slow the pace. White supremacy culture teaches us to go, go, go, work, work, work. No boundaries. We're not robots, we're humans. So slowing that pace if it's not an emergency. So, number one finding out if it's emergency, if it's not slowing the pace, asking the questions, getting the evidence-based information so that our clients can make an informed decision, and giving them a moment to process, discuss, or sometimes even have staff to step out, have doctors to step out, just to say who. That was overwhelming. It was a little intimidating having five people in the room while I'm trying to make a decision and I don't know what the best decision is and what should I do. I didn't understand the language and then you start getting overwhelmed, you get anxious and what does that do? It increases your heart rate, it impacts the baby and then sometimes, what does that? End up? In a C-section, emergency C-section, all because of feeling overwhelmed in an environment where there's already Discontrust and not just feeling overwhelmed, but being pressured, pressure.
Speaker 1:Yes a decision With urgency. Right, absolutely, it's that whole thing that you were just talking about too much, too fast, too soon. So as a doula in the birthing room, you are able to, because you're not the person that's in labor You're able to slow down that process and give mothers time to think and to reflect before they make these critical decisions.
Speaker 4:Absolutely, and so a lot of our staff is trained in massage techniques, and so if the mom is feeling contractions and overwhelmed with pain, we always give our our clients yoga balls, and so we have different positions. We have massage techniques to help them go through the process of pain. Some people don't want pain medicines. Some people, like myself, I was like I need it, I need it right now, and then the look on their face when I was too far alone to receive an epidural is just like I'm like nobody's gonna tell me it's too late, like I can't have one. They're like push and I was like oh man. So having those experiences, for different experiences, for different times, and almost dying with my last birth, my two and a half year old, has really Made me think about this work in a totally different way. Um I, it started out personal and then it got personal personal, having almost died because of what I felt like was racism, systemic racism, deeply embedded in ignoring and dismissing black bodies.
Speaker 3:Do you feel like you encounter a lot of teaching moments as doulas when you're in that medical system with doctors? Do you feel like your presence there can provide some teaching moments?
Speaker 4:Absolutely, absolutely. It can boil down to you might know the answer, but when you're in the room as a doula, it is the clinician, it is the provider who can give that clinical advice. We are non-clinical, non-invasive, and so a learning moment would be phrasing it. Hey, I'm curious, or my client, could you further explain that process? So, while it's, you have humility and doing it, but it's also a moment where you slow the pace. You provide that explanation and it lets the doctor know. You know, maybe I'm moving too fast or I'm talking in a language that's not being understood by my patient and you're refusing to be dismissed and refusing to be dismissed.
Speaker 4:We're being seen, we're being heard and we're making sure of that.
Speaker 1:And making sure and in a lot of ways what you all do is do those is you dispel those myths. You know, and when I talk about those myths, you know, it's always been this thought that somehow black women could take more pain. Black women can this and black women can that, and so what I appreciate from what I'm hearing about you is the humanity that you bring to the process for the women that are giving birth, absolutely.
Speaker 4:We have to realize that every birthing experience is unique. No birth is the same, even with my own. No birth is the same. Everyone's experiences the lived experience. Before even walking into the labor delivery room, the phobias that may not have even been discussed, you're seeing people fully masked and drapes and you don't know everything is happening in such a fast pace. I just want to get to the pace is so important. Slowing down. This is in birthing space. This is in your career space. This is in your personal life. Slow the pace. I have, you know, the past three days I have waken up and said slow the pace. We overwork, we overthink, we don't have time to process, we are operating out of survival mode and trauma. So much. Slow the pace. Process. Know how to set boundaries. Know that when you're in that birthing space it's okay to ask those questions. No question is a dumb question. Create an environment that is healthy for advocacy and self-advocacy. How do you do that? By developing relationships before the process of going into a labor and delivery.
Speaker 1:So what is the doula process after? So we've gone through. We, you know, built our relationships. Now we've had a baby. What comes next?
Speaker 4:That is so important. A lot of people are like oh, you're here, you're alive, the baby is healthy, all right, now go ahead and be a mom. We're there to support you Postpartum up to a year, and sometimes it goes over because we have a women's empowerment group and the mothers bring their children with them. So we have these ongoing relationships. But what does that look like? Directly postpartum? That can be us bringing food to both the mother and the family right after giving support. That could be respite watching the baby while the mother takes a two hour nap, maybe doing her dishes, giving her a massage, giving her wrapping techniques, giving her community resources to find section 8 housing. Maybe this can be. Let me schedule an appointment for you to go up to DSS because you're on maternity leave for 12 weeks and you're a single mom with no income and you need to figure out your health care. You need to figure out how you're going to get food, because you know the groceries are ridiculously high. The basic needs have to be met, the support needs to be there and they feel comfortable because we've already been there from the beginning of the pregnancy.
Speaker 4:Sometimes we have people who come in early. First trimester we have some people that come in midway and then sometimes we get a phone call at the end of the pregnancy 36, 37, 39 or in the emergency room saying, hey, can we get a doula? So we try to immediately create a bond, a safe space. What is it that you want and need? How can we support you? How can we amplify your voice? Because we ultimately want it to be their voice and we want to stick with them throughout the process, even after you have the baby. Sometimes we're able to get them supplies for the baby to make sure that they have safe sleeping spaces. Some of our parents we encourage them to sleep beside your baby but have a cradle beside the bed, because you know the sudden infant death syndrome. So we want to make sure that the birthing families have the support, the supplies and feel heard and seen and be on the lookout. For those, like I mentioned before, postpartum depression, are they not able to move around because they just had a c-section?
Speaker 4:No, they're not just being lazy, everybody wants to just think like my body, I just was cut open and a baby was born, and I have other children and I'm in pain. I'm a single mother and I'm trying to figure out how to cook dinner. Keep my house clean. Sister Karen Vizilstas is here for you.
Speaker 1:So how do expecting mothers connect with Sisters, caring for Sisters?
Speaker 4:Yes, so you all can go on our website, wwwsisterscaringforsistersorg. We also have a social media presence where always on our Facebook, if you want to drop us an inbox, if you want to go, whenever you go to your appointment, your OB appointment at the doctor's office, tell your doctor I would like a SCFARES doula and they can send the referral form. As you know, we originally started out in Mayhack and so all the Mayhack providers are familiar with us, so just let them know. You're interested in a doula, I want to know more.
Speaker 4:Some people have no idea what a doula does, and so, making sure that they have that referral and you can self refer, a lot of the times we people come to us simply off a word of mouth because they had an amazing experience, and they're like I need somebody to show up for me because this is what I went through and it's yet another adverse childbirth experience, and so when they show up in the space, there's this like okay, it's SCFARES staff. I know, maybe they got you back. We're good, y'all good in good hands. So that's how you can reach us.
Speaker 1:So can you tell us what's coming up for Sisters, caring for Sisters.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes, yes. So next Saturday, april 29th, we are having our first annual Black Maternal Health Fund Razor at Highwire Brewing and Biltmore. Get your tickets on Eventbrite. We are selling quickly. Oh my goodness, cooking for comedy is gonna cater, ray Mapp and Hypnotic Band are gonna be there and we're gonna have keynote speaker Omari Maynard from Hulu's Aftershock. So if you all are not familiar with it, please go look at it. It's how Black men have had to navigate fatherhood after their partners have died during birth because of medical malpractice and institutionalized racism. So he's gonna come and talk about his experience and it's going to be an amazing night. So follow us on our Facebook for the Eventbrite link and I'll be giving away some free tickets soon, so be on the lookout. And that's on.
Speaker 1:April 29th.
Speaker 4:Saturday, april 29th, highwire Brewing and Biltmore location. Right behind go, excuse me, right behind the gym area, the pizza area. Right there on the corner, where there is a Mexican restaurant. We'll have parking at Habitat for Humanity. We look forward to everybody coming out.
Speaker 1:And so, luffy, is there anything that we have not asked about that you really want the people to know?
Speaker 4:I just want to all to know that we appreciate the support in the community Zedak showing up for us in so many different ways. We're just really, really appreciate the opportunity to talk about the space, the safe space, to talk about what we do, because sometimes people simply aren't aware of what a doula is or the work that's being done, because this is direct service, it's all hands-on. So thank you for giving us a space to talk about what we do and I hope to see everyone at the fundraiser on Saturday, april 29th.
Speaker 1:Cool, michael, jennifer, any last words?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, before we take out our head out, I'd like to just take a moment to send some love and strength to all the mothers, past, present and future. We see you, we honor you, we got you back. I think, even within the social justice realm, you know, we've kind of focused on specific issues, and women and children are sometimes left out of that focus, and this is, I mean, this is crucial to the work that we're doing.
Speaker 3:Thank you Amen to them, thank you all.
Speaker 1:Jennifer, do you have any parting words?
Speaker 3:No, I guess I'm just curious. You know, if you wanted, what would you say to funders that might be listening? Any sort of needs that you're thinking going forward with the Sisters Caring for Sisters?
Speaker 4:Absolutely so. To continue this work, to continue the training, to continue the support, it always takes funds. We're looking for opportunities to expand our programs that we already have going on, our Women Empowerment Group that is located monthly in PISGUVU, bringing resources to the community, being there for our mothers postpartum, having those diapers, those supplies, those community partnerships, so that we continue to do this work. It takes money and so I just invite you to come hear the stories of some of our mothers. We will create that space. Contact me, reach out to me, and I can create that space for funders to directly see and hear and understand the critical work that we're doing here in the community.
Speaker 1:So when you say reach out to me, are you speaking specifically through the website? Is there a number that you all have that we can call?
Speaker 4:Yes, and so if you go on our website at wwwsistas s-i-s-t-a-s. Caringthenumber4sistersorg, you can go on there and get in contact with us. There's a contact form. You can also reach me directly at lave at sistascaringforsistersorg.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, levy. What a shining, bright light in our community, and I want to highlight that Levy works for Sistas Caring for Sisters, but Levy works for community, and so we are so appreciative not just of Sistas Caring for Sisters, but for you as an individual and the way that you show up in community and all the things that you are a part of, and we are so excited to have been able to talk to you today about Sistas Caring for Sisters. Thank you, and we might have you here again sometime.
Speaker 3:I look forward to it. Thank you all.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:All right, until next time, peace.
Speaker 1:Peace.
Speaker 4:You have every right to be angry. Can you tell me why? Every time I step outside see my n***a die? You have no right to perpetrate violence on the very communities that you are standing up for.
Speaker 1:A lot of people have been using my father's words that all men are created in. The only pathway to do this is through nonviolent means.
Speaker 4:I'm letting you know that it ain't no gun that can kill my soul. We will bring you justice, I promise. When God got us, then we could be all right. Let's start making some changes.