In Brooklyn, doulas work to change Black maternal health outcomes

Data shows that Black women are dying during childbirth at alarming rates, and the crisis is especially urgent in Brooklyn, which has the city's largest Black population.

A local organization is stepping up with specialized support to change those outcomes.

The joy is real, and so are the flickers of fear on a new parent's face. As Ana Nunez and Cristian Avila watched over their newborn son, Lyon, they reflected on the mix of hope and worry that shaped their path to parenthood.

"Sometimes you hear a lot of horror stories about being a Black woman giving birth," Nunez said. "So I wanted to feel heard, I wanted to feel included. So I let my doctor know I was interested in doula service and that's how I was connected."

Those fears were addressed by their doula, Reshonah Williams, who worked with them from the third trimester through several weeks postpartum.

"We worked on comfort measures to help ease the condition of natural labor," Williams said. "Because the hospitals automatically come up with the idea of, you know, 'You can have an epidural if you want, you should have an epidural.' And we're like, 'Mom says she wants to do this.'"

New mom Raven Lopez also found support through a doula after giving birth to her colicky baby girl.

"She helped breastfeeding, you know, sometimes babies won't latch," Lopez said. "She helped me, to show me, how to make the milk flow. You know, it was hard for me to pick up the baby. She showed me how to pick up the baby."

The crying, she said, was often quickly soothed by her doula, Dadreama Sandiford.

"If they're saying that they're experiencing pain, they're experiencing pain," Sandiford said of her role as a liaison between a mother and her doctor. "For the physicians, listen. For the lawmakers, make it accessible for everyone."

Both families turned to the Caribbean Women's Health Association (CWHA), a nonprofit founded in 1982 that has since become the largest free, community-based doula service provider in New York City.

Cheryl Hall, CWHA's executive director, pointed to research that supports the impact of doula care to improve outcomes.

"There's a whole birth plan put in place and what the expectations are," Hall said. "Doulas, of course, they are providing psychosocial care. They're not providing clinical care."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women in the U.S. are nearly 3.5 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women. In Brooklyn, home to the city's largest Black population, Hall said that disparity sparked action.

Asked what could be done to address the root causes of the crisis, Hall pointed to a lost opportunity.

"We were participating in a big study with [National Institutes of Health] and Mount Sinai to focus on a seven-year grant to try to ... get the answer to that question," she said. "Within the first month of the new administration, the grant was taken away from us."

CWHA provides workshops and services across the city in multiple languages, covering everything from sleep safety and lactation to postpartum recovery.

"We're mostly representing clients that may not always be able to represent themselves or advocate for themselves," said full-spectrum doula Marlyn Williams.

The organization's goal: provide care that goes beyond the delivery room, empowering families long after the baby comes home.

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