Local birth advocates to host walkathon for Black Maternal Health Week

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — We’re in the middle of Black Maternal Health Week—a time dedicated to awareness about the inequities in healthcare and elevating access to resources. A Rochester community of birth advocates is working to do just that by shining a light on the giant gap for Black maternal care that can seem impossible to cross. “Black women do get care, but it’s good care—it’s the same care, equitable care—that their counterparts would get,” says Josie McClary, a community doula and also the chief community engagement officer for Monroe County. According to the CDC, Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications. In Rochester, a recent study by researchers at URMC found nearly 13% of all premature births occurred in zip codes labeled “hazardous” by decades old policies that disenfranchised minority peoples–known as “redlining”. Jasmine Brewer says she felt the pain of going without adequate care herself when she experienced a stillbirth. “I didn’t know what to look for. I didn’t feel like I was heard, so I backed off from speaking up about it, right? And then I went home and experienced tragedy. I should’ve never been sent home,” Brewer explains to News 8’s...