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America is trying to solve the problem of maternal mortality through federal, state and local programs.

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TULSA, Okla. (AP) — On the scene racial massacre it decreased districts in ashes 100 years ago, where wall paintings commemorate the once flourishing ” Black Wall Street“A black mother tries to keep other children from dying while they fight to bring latest life into the world.

Black women are 3 times more likely to be die consequently of pregnancy or childbirth as white women in Oklahoma, which consistently ranks amongst the top states in the country for maternal mortality.

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“Tulsa is hurting,” said Corrina Jackson, who runs the local version of the federal Healthy Start program, coordinating needed care and helping women through pregnancy. “We’re talking about lives here.”

Across the country, programs in any respect levels of government—federal, state and local—share the same goals to reduce maternal mortality and close racial gaps. No one has all the answers, but many are making progress of their communities and leading the way for other places.

Jackson’s project is one of greater than 100 funded by Healthy Start, which has awarded $105 million in grants nationwide this yr. Officials call Healthy Start a significant part of the Biden administration maternal health plan.

Other approaches to the crisis include halving California’s maternal mortality rate through a company that shares best practices for treating common causes of maternal death and expanding New York’s access to midwives and doulas two years ago. Several states have passed laws this yr geared toward improving maternal health, including radical measure in Massachusetts. Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced greater than $568 million in funding to improve maternal health through activities akin to home visiting services and higher identifying and stopping pregnancy-related deaths.

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At the local and national level, “we really need to identify those giving birth who are potentially at greatest risk,” said New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan, “and then provide care throughout their pregnancy.”

Healthy Start in Tulsa

In addition to coordinating prenatal and postnatal care—which experts say is crucial to keeping moms alive—local Healthy Start projects provide education about pregnancy and parenting and referrals to services for issues akin to depression or domestic violence. Local efforts also reach out to partners of women and children up to 18 months old. They give attention to issues that affect health, akin to transportation to appointments.

“We try to get them through the first trimester of pregnancy and then we work with them up until the day they’re born. Then we work with the babies to make sure they hit their milestones,” Jackson said.

Jackson received help from the local Urban League as a single mother and felt a calling to give back to her community. She has been involved with Healthy Start for greater than 25 years, first through the Tulsa Health Department and most recently through the nonprofit she founded, which received about $1 million in federal funding this fiscal yr.

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“I treat her like a mom on this show,” Jackson said.

In the entire state of Oklahoma, the maternal mortality rate is roughly 30 per 100,000 live births, far higher than the national average of about 23. But in her quarter-century in office, Jackson said, there have been no maternal deaths amongst her clients.

Critical to Healthy Start’s success are care coordinators like Krystal Keener, a social employee in the obstetrics and gynecology clinic at Oklahoma State University, where clients receive prenatal care. One of her responsibilities is educating clients about health issues, akin to recognizing the signs of preeclampsia or how much bleeding is an excessive amount of after delivery.

Areana Coles undergoes an ultrasound during a prenatal visit at the Oklahoma State University obstetrics and gynecology clinic in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mary Conlon)

She also helps with practicalities: Many clients don’t have cars, so that they call Keener after they need transportation to a prenatal visit, and she helps schedule it.

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Along with the doctors, Keener serves as a patient advocate. One afternoon, Keener attended a prenatal visit for Areana Coles. A single mother, Coles had her 5-year-old daughter together with her, who was born prematurely and hung out in intensive care.

Coles, 25, said Healthy Start was “probably the best thing that’s happened in this pregnancy.” She called Keener an “angel.”

Together they handled several health issues, including dehydration and low potassium, which landed Coles in the hospital.

As Coles’ due date approached, Keener spoke about what to look out for during and shortly after labor, like blood clots and postpartum depression. She advised Coles to take care of herself and “give myself credit for the little things I do.”

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During an ultrasound a number of minutes later, Coles saw Dr. Jacob Lenz indicate her unborn baby’s eyes, mouth, hand, and heart. He printed out a picture of the scan, which Coles immediately showed her daughter.

Keener said she’s glad Coles won’t have to give birth prematurely this time.

“You made it to the end of your pregnancy – hurray!” she told her client.

Coles smiled. “My body can do it!”

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Improving health care

While programmes akin to Healthy Start give attention to individual patient needs, other initiatives ensure comprehensive quality of care.

California has the lowest maternal mortality rate in the country—10.5 per 100,000 live births, lower than half the national rate. But that wasn’t the case before the Maternal Quality Care Collaborative was formed in 2006.

Founded by Stanford University School of Medicine in partnership with the state, the initiative brings together individuals from every hospital with a maternity unit to share best practices for managing conditions that may lead to maternal injury or death, akin to hypertension, heart problems and sepsis.

“When you look at the maternal death rate in the United States compared to California, they were basically neck and neck until it was fixed,” said Dr. Amanda Williams, clinical innovation adviser for the collaboration. “At that point, they completely separated, and California started going down. The rest of the country started going up.”

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The collaboration provides hospitals with toolkits full of materials, akin to multi-format care guidelines, best practices articles and slide decks that designate what to do during a medical emergency, how to form medical teams and what supplies to have on the unit. The collaboration also addresses issues akin to improving maternity care by integrating midwives and doulas, whose services are covered by the state Medicaid program.

Initially, some doctors resisted the enterprise, assuming they knew best, Williams says, but now that the collaboration has proven its price, there is much less opposition.

MemorialCare Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach began participating in the program around 2010. The partnership helps “look at all the research that’s out there,” said Shari Kelly, executive director of perinatal services. “It’s just really important to really understand how we as providers can make a difference.”

For example, if a lady loses a major amount of blood after a vaginal delivery, “we know how to activate what we call here the ‘code scarlet,’ which brings the blood to the bed,” Kelly said. “We can act quickly and stop any potential hemorrhage.”

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She added that the collaboration also helped reduce racial inequalities, akin to by lowering the rate of cesarean sections amongst black moms.

In July, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed an initiative similar to the one in California focused on the quality of perinatal care nationwide: the first basic health and safety requirements for hospital obstetric and emergency medical services.

Experts say tackling maternal mortality at the national level requires tailoring solutions to the needs of individual communities, which is easier when programs are locally run.

New York City has a goal of reducing maternal mortality overall, specifically achieving a ten percent decrease in maternal mortality amongst black people by 2030. Statewide, black individuals are about 4 times more likely to die while pregnant or childbirth than white people.

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The city is starting with low-income and social housing residents, amongst others. The New Family Home Visits Initiative provides pregnant women and those that have given birth with visits from specialists akin to nurses, midwives, doulas and lactation consultants. Vasan said that since 2022, greater than 12,000 families have received visits.

Nurse Shinda Cover-Bowen works for the Nurse Family Partnership, which visits families for two 1/2 years, long after pregnancy and birth. She said that “that consistency of having someone there, listening to you, guiding you through your mother’s journey, is priceless.”

Rooted in the community—and its history—is also key to Healthy Start’s projects. The lasting effects of racism are evident in Tulsa, where in 1921, white residents killed an estimated 100 to 300 black people, and destroyed houseschurches, schools and businesses in the Greenwood neighborhood. That’s where Jackson lives now, and where health care inequities persist.

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Being trustworthy is priceless to black women who may not trust the health care system, Jackson said. Plus, knowing the community allows for close collaboration with other local agencies to meet people’s needs.

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Denise Jones, who signed up to Healthy Start in February, has struggled with anxiety, depression and drug addiction but has been sober since April.

By mid-July, her room was stuffed with baby gear—a crib, a bassinet, tiny clothes hanging neatly in the closet—in anticipation of her baby’s arrival. Jones, 32, was leafing through a baby book, pointing to the sonogram of her son Levi, who was due in a number of weeks.

She said she feels healthy and blissful thanks to the help she received from Healthy Start and Madonna House, a transitional housing program run by Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma.

“I have professionals working with me and supporting me. I didn’t have that with my other pregnancies,” she said. “I am one with my baby and I can focus.”

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This article was originally published on : thegrio.com

Lifestyle

Prayer led Bobby Brown to search for therapy after losing Whitney Houston, daughter of Bobbi Kristina and son Bobby Jr.

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Over the years, Bobby Brown had to endure great regret, including the worst nightmare of every parent, the death of a baby.

During the looks ofJennifer Hudson Show“On Monday, May 19, a 56-year-old R&B singer opened on how he moved in regret after the death of his daughter Bobbi Kristina, son of Bobby Brown Jr. and his ex-wife Whitney Houston.

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“First of all, a lot of prayer, which absolutely took me to the point where I accepted therapy in my life,” said Brown Hudson. “I accepted going to the therapist and really solve all the problems I had in me.”

Brown, who was married to the manager Alicia Eteredgedge since 2012 and has five additional children, assigns her family and stays near his family members, “when times become” as a source of strength.

“They are still there because (regret) doesn’t end. It’s not like it is going to simply disappear. It will likely be with you ceaselessly, nevertheless it’s about coping with it and really being attentive to yourself. Paying attention to how you’re feeling that day and informing someone how you’re feeling.

Brown and Houston, who had a famous but passionate relationship, were married for 14 years from 1992 to 2007. They welcomed Bobbi Kristina, their only child together, in 1993 on February 11, 2012, Houston died by accidental drowning related to the use of drugs on the hotel on the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills. She was 48 years old. Bobbi Kristina died in an especially similar way on July 26, 2015, on the age of 22, and on November 18, 2020, Bobby Brown Jr., whom Brown shared with Kim Ward, also died of drug overdose. He was 27 years old.

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From the death of Bobbi Kristina, who in July in July within the tenth anniversary, Brown honored his heritage while launching Bobbi Kristina Serenity HouseNon -profit, which provides resources to victims of domestic violence.

Brown told Hudson that his daughter was not largely due to domestic violence.

“What happened to my daughter, I don’t want it to happen with a child of another man or a woman,” said Brown. “That is why we have Bobbi Kristina Serenity House to be a safe haven for those who undergo domestic violence.”

He added: “It’s time to speak. You know, people have to speak and ask for help. And when you don’t ask for help, a friend must ask for help. We must watch out for themselves. House of peace is there, as I said, be a safe haven for those who have to escape from a situation that is not healthy.”

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Former bodyguard Whitney Houston once considered risking all this for a deceased singer

(Tagstranslat) Bobby Brown

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Lifestyle

“Gingers to black”

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Ginger, Black people, tiktok


The hot approach to Tiktok has evolved into expressing solidarity between black people and red -haired white people, commonly referred to as gums on social media. While on the surface of solidarity it seems a bit strange, unity is due to the common experience of oppression due to physical characteristics over which no group controls.

According to the creator of Tiktoku, he stated that “everyone who is ginger who has red hair; these are black people. All tenants are black people. If they have red hair, they are black,” the thought quickly swept in social media, in an identical way to discourse that every one women are burned.

Shamar Dickens, a 33-year-old black artist from Atlanta, said he has it related to many Red -haired, who shared their stories about ostraconization or bad treatment with him, which caused him to think deeper about how other white people treat gums and the way white people, more broadly, treat black people.

“There were so many of them with very similar stories about their childhood and upbringing, which shaped my view on this. There are definitely black people of the white community, especially after hearing about their history and hardships,” said Dickens.

He continued: “As a black person and how I feel about it, I look at it from another point! There is so much negativity in the world, and even more division in the world. I love it because it produces so much positiveness and love.”

According to Dr. Tydden, an assistant to the Urban Planning Professor on the University of Toronto, the trend touches the historical treatment of Irish (who are sometimes red -haired), after they first emigrated to America and had to gain white because they weren’t perceived as white people, solidarity with black people.

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“This trend refers to the historical marginalization of” gums “, phenotypes highly associated with the Irish. Treatment of Irish, especially at the hands of the British, is well documented, and their discrimination went well in American colonization. This historically created solidarity between African-American and Irish populations, “said Rodden Outlet.

Redden also warned that the trend in Tiktoku failed, partly because a few of them had accepted what it means to be white in America.

“Instead of referring to the ways in which tenants are treated, e.g. it is believed that it is unattractive (addressed to men) or fetishized (in the case of women), some films transformed into the co-optation of black cultural expressions so that the creators could demonstrate their” blackness “-Redden said.

“He was a black artist who emphasized how they were treated badly, and it is unfortunate to become an opportunity to disregard African -American traditions,” Redden noted.

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Melanie Preston, a licensed mental health therapist at Matter of Focus advising, repeated Redden’s criticism and said that the flattening of separate historical experiences of individuals or other digital currency is a bit naive.

“Comparison of being red to being black may feel nervous and even confirm some, nevertheless it is fake equivalence. Red -haired can face teasing – people have faced the generations of systemic, legalized oppression. Borrowing black pain to confirm other struggles, doesn’t construct solidarity – it erases the context. fight ”to confirm other struggles.

Connor, a 27-year-old creator of Rudy’s content, who often creates satirical movies, said that he understands the seriousness of similarities between black people and red-haired, despite the final “unnecessary nature” of this trend.

“Growing up, they were defined by hair, intimidated, stereotypical,” said Connor. “This” other “is something that I know is a common experience.”

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He also admitted that white leases are still white, which suggests that they’ve some benefits that black people won’t ever receive within the United States.

“At the tip of the day, white ginger is white, which brings all of the privileges, perspectives and experiences common for being white. We won’t ever really have the ability to compare our experience with a median black person, but we will sympathize with, support, love and stand in solidarity because imitate yourself – said Connor.

(Tagstranslat) tiktok

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This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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Lifestyle

Four lifestyle habits that can help you live up to 100

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A 115-year-old woman from Surrey named Ethel Caterham officially received the title The oldest alive man.

Many people reading this message may wonder what the key of Caterham is.

Although it is normally not idea to make the most of the information on health and longevity from supersenters (because they are sometimes an exception than the rule), there are some lifestyle suggestions that we can use from researching groups of long -term individuals who can help us increase our possibilities for an extended life.

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(*100*)


1. Physical activity

Physical activity is sweet for you – who knew? Studies show that people who find themselves more physically energetic daily They live longer, a healthier life. One study showed that moving from physical activity to about 75 minutes every week of vigorous walking increased the expected life expectancy about two years.

But perhaps less known is how bad inaction is on your health and longevity. This is a bit difficult to explain, however the positive effects of exercises actually differ from the negative effects of inaction. This means you can have A positive effect in your health Being each more energetic and avoiding inactive.

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However, nearly as good as a structured exercise, in itself it cannot balance the damage to inactivity and sitting throughout the day. Studies even show that being sitting is expounded to Higher risk of premature death for any reason.



If you want to live longer, you should try to avoid sitting for a very long time, if possible. Practical recommendations on this Include standing every half-hour, seeing someone within the office as an alternative of calling or sending E -Mail and stand in public transport during travel. That’s a plus strive to perform about half-hour of moderate exercise for many days It will help maximize the possibilities of an extended, healthy life.

2. Eat vegetables

Council many children fear: eat vegetables if you want to live for a very long time.

Last examination Then got here about 100,000 people in 30 years, said that individuals who have reached 70 years in good health (which suggests that they didn’t have chronic diseases) normally ate more fruit, vegetables, whole grain, nuts and legumes, in addition to smaller fats, red or processed meats, fried food and suggestion. Importantly, this study doesn’t say that you have to be a vegan or never eat red meats – this only identifies trends in diets related to healthy aging.

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An elderly woman feeds eating an older man.
A healthy weight loss plan can be the important thing to healthy aging.
Tom Wang/ Shutterstock
(*100*)

When and the way much you eat, it can also play a job when it comes to aging. Studies of calorie and intermittent restrictions in animals have shown that each can increase life. Our initial work in humans also showed that after an empty stomach it can cause three weeks Similar, positive metabolic shifts It suits what now we have seen in animals that will live longer. However, more research is required in an extended time-frame to determine the impact on Healthspan and life in humans.

3. Sleep

The regular dream of excellent quality can also be vital health for all times and general longevity.

In the study, about 500,000 British irregular sleep patterns were related to 50% higher risk of early death compared to those with regular sleep patterns. Change employees showed the next risk of strokes, and nurses who worked on rotational changes for a long time Less healthy and had previous deaths in retirement compared to nurses who didn’t work with changes.

Although these data suggest that good quality, regular sleep is essential for good health, how much sleep you need and when you should go to sleep seems to be highly individualistic. This makes it difficult to transfer recommendations for the whole population-which is why NHS recommends that adults get between 7-9 hours of sleep.

4. Stress

Stress has a variety of influence in your health.

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For example, the growing evidence indicates that the stressors of formative years (comparable to the lack of parent, neglect or abuse) can negatively affect health in later life-nave to molecular and cellular levels through Increasing inflammation levels in a way that can increase risk of bad health and premature death in old age.

And vice versa, older adults that show increased psychological resistance to stress are he’ll die less often for any reason. Eight weeks of normal yoga is enough Improve psychological immunity in older adults.

The effect of social connections might be related. Those who live more socially also live live longer. In fact, people over 65 years old who’re socially energetic daily thrice more likely Live for more five years compared to those that almost never become involved in social activities.

It is a widespread discovery that strong social networks seem Increase longevity. This may result from the way in which social connections help us relieve stressors in our lives.

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The role of genetics

Although there are a lot of lifestyle habits that we can change, one thing that we cannot control when it comes to our lives is genetics. Some studies suggest that naturally occurring mutations in genes related to longevity are more common in long -term people.

Although it’s difficult to irritate the role of genetics compared to lifestyle when it comes to life expectancy, current forecasts suggest that longevity is between 20-40% related to genetics.

But good genetics are usually not all the pieces. Although Ethel Caterham reached the extraordinary age of 115-And considered one of her sisters lived on the 104th daughter of Caterham initially recognized her on the age of 71 and 83.

And even when you win a genetic jackpot and follow lifestyle, you would still be very completely satisfied that he could have an important age of Caterham on the age of 115. Mutation cells, a type of clots, completion of biological happiness. Despite this, if you want to maximize your possibilities for an extended life and remain as healthy as possible, try to be more physically energetic daily, eat weight loss plan, go to sleep and maintain low stress.

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This article was originally published on : theconversation.com
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