How maternal mortality rates are different depending on race

Rising Ground opened a new facility last week for runaway and homeless youth. The Coney Island-based Spectrum specializes in supporting LGBTQ teens who identify as female, according to a spokesperson. The facility has 19 beds for youths aged 18 to 20 years old, along with supportive services to help with education and employment. This is the second Transitional Independent Living program operated by Rising Ground, which changed its name last year from Leake and Watts.

“Rising Ground’s two Runaway and Homeless Youth transitional programs are safe and supportive homes to 40 young women who have nowhere else to turn,” Alan Mucatel, CEO of Rising Ground, said in a statement. “Our extensive expertise providing residential and trauma-influenced care to teens, including LGBTQ youth who are disproportionally represented among runaway teens, positions us to well support these young people as they move successfully forward in their lives.”

The Manhattan-based Hetrick-Martin Institute has received a $405,000 contract from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Services. The money will fund programming related to Connections to Care, according to the City Record. Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation received a similar contract, per a $225,600 deal.

Corlears School raised more than $255,000 on March 8. The independent private school celebrated its 50th anniversary at a Manhattan event attended by 230 parents, alumni, faculty, and staff, according to a spokesperson. The Chelsea-based school teaches children, ages two to ten years old, with an emphasis on social justice education.

A new report examines how maternal mortality rates are different depending on race. The New York State Taskforce on Maternal Mortality and Disparate Racial Outcomes developed 10 recommendations over six months to counter the higher rates of maternal mortality experienced by women of color. Here they are taken more or less verbatim from a March 12 press release from the Office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who convened the task force.

1. Establish a statewide maternal mortality review board in statute
2. Design and implement a comprehensive training and education program for hospitals on implicit racial bias
3. Establish a comprehensive data warehouse on perinatal outcomes to improve quality
4. Provide equitable reimbursement to midwives
5. Expand and enhance community health worker services in New York state
6. Create a State University of New York (SUNY) scholarship program for midwives to address needed diversity
7. Create competency-based curricula for providers as well as medical and nursing schools
8. Establish an educational loan forgiveness program for providers who are underrepresented in medicine and who intend to practice women’s health care services
9. Convene statewide expert work group to optimize postpartum care in New York state
10. Promote universal birth preparedness and postpartum continuity of care

And here are a few findings from the report

• New York ranked 30th in the nation in 2016 for maternal mortality rates.
• The number of maternal deaths increased from about 15 to nearly 20  deaths per 100,000 live births over the last 20 years.
• The top five causes of pregnancy-associated deaths were: substance abuse (30 percent); motor vehicle accidents (22 percent); suicide (17 percent); homicide (15 percent); and cancer (14 percent).