YORK, Pa. — Black Maternal Health Week is celebrated from April 11 to April 17 by doctors, mothers, and advocates who want to raise awareness of the alarming rate of maternal mortality among Black Women.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 80% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable.
While one York County woman was able to prevent complications, her sister could not.
“I was very very concerned with making sure that I had the best that I could possibly have for my unborn child,” said Ramona Dupye, a perioperative nurse at UPMC and a mother of three.
Dupye has a 12, 15, and 28-year-old. Although they are no longer babies, Dupye said her priority is to always keep them safe.
So the first thing Dupye did when she got pregnant was find a doctor who would listen to her needs.
“I felt that my doctors weren’t really listening to what I was saying. I needed it what was going on with my health,” said Dupye.
The CDC states that Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White women. Dupye wasn’t just concerned about her pregnancy based on the statistics, but also because her sister had a complicated pregnancy.
“My sister actually had eclampsia when she went into labor with my nephew, she had a seizure during her delivery,” she said.
FOX43 spoke with Dr. Marc Hester who specializes in obstetrics and gynecology at UPMC Magee-Women's in York County. He also was Dupye's physician when she first conceived. Dr. Hester said in his experience, that preeclampsia is a common complication in Black mothers and is one of the leading causes of death.
“Often time they have elevated blood pressures that have gone undiagnosed and therefore they’re not being treated for that,” said Dr. Hester.
Other factors contribute to the Black Maternal Mortality rate that Dr. Hester said increases complications. Some of these take place outside of the hospital like lack of nutrition, access to healthcare, and mental health.
“In terms of race, genetically were the same there’s no difference in the differences social constructs,” said Dr. Hester.
According to the National Institute of Health, the leading underlying causes of pregnancy-related death include:
Mental health conditions (including deaths to suicide and overdose/poisoning related to substance use disorder) (23%)
Excessive bleeding (hemorrhage) (14%)
Cardiac and coronary conditions (relating to the heart) (13%)
Infection (9%)
Experts say that over 80 percent of pregnancy-related deaths could be avoided if given the proper treatment and access to care. Mothers like Dupye said that if people don’t advocate for themselves, and their babies, or don’t ask questions, the number of black mothers dying will continue to rise.
“We want to make sure that they stay healthy and if you don’t if they don’t know that they need to go and seek the care that is necessary and find someone that you feel comfortable with then the rates will continue to be where they are, and go even higher,” said Dupye.
Download the FOX43 app here.