Raising Awareness: Black Maternal Health Week

It’s Black maternal Health Week (April 11 to April 17), an initiative designed to help raise awareness about improving Black maternal health experiences and reducing the number of pregnancy-related deaths. Lafayette native and Mamou resident Keisha Malbrew told KATC she is willing to share her story. Keisha, a mother of four told me she lost her son back in August of 2016, just one day after giving birth. “When I had got that phone call from them, they told me he had passed away,” Keisha said. “It’s like it was a shock to me.” Keisha said her son, Allen Christopher Malbrew was premature and diagnosed with Down Syndrome at birth. Keisha also said she was not familiar with the genetic chromosome disorder at the time and doctors did not inform her about her baby’s health, until he was born. “He couldn’t breathe,” Keisha said. “They was trying to make him breathe on his own, but he couldn’t. It was hard for him to breathe on his own.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every pregnancy-related death is tragic, especially because more than 80 percent of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. are preventable. That’s why Lafayette-native Angelica Rideaux...