Cleveland hosts its first Black Maternal Health Equity Summit

CLEVELAND — The Clinical Translational Science Collaborative at Case Western Reserve University hosted its first Black Maternal Health Equity Summit at Cleveland State University. Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens delivered a keynote address and gave local mothers and medical professionals a chance to share stories, research and policy updates, challenges, and opportunities. Participants also had the opportunity to apply their learnings and share insights during action tables. People who attended the summit were excited to see medical professionals of all races learning about the disparities in Black maternal health, hoping they would join the effort to end the Black mortality crisis. “Hopefully we do began seeing change, because we should all be treated equally. We are human also, as Black women we are no different from anyone else,” said Cameron Johnson. Johnson said the main issue she hears from Black mothers in Cleveland is being ignored when something doesn’t feel right. Tiffany James is one of the mothers who told her birthing experience to the crowd; James had her first child at 31 years old and her second at the age of 43. “When I had my 12-year-old son, it was almost a mortality. I was in pain, and I kept...