CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A $1 million grant given to Johnson C. Smith University earlier this year has allowed the university to expand its lactation and doula programs. The focus is to add more diversity to the health care industry with the goal of reducing racial health disparities that women of color face.
The statistics are deafening. Black women are dying at three times the rate of their white counterparts during or after birth. Outcries from the community spurred the university to work together with partners like Novant Health, Atrium Health, and the Mecklenburg County Government to push for positive change in the Black maternal health field.
The goal is to improve these outcomes and make birthing professional training equitable and accessible for people of color. The program offers three options: the childbirth educator, birth doula, and lactation consultant. It's a curriculum that accounts for the concerns of Black mothers while promoting diversity in a field ripe with disparities and inequities.
JCSU's three components of the program are all about catering to working people.
"Having someone to be there to guide you, that looks like you and can also understand what you're going through is important," Antonia Mead, chair of the Health and Human Performance Department, told WCNC Charlotte. "That process is important and making sure you're not doing it alone is vastly important."
While many graduates are already working in the community and throughout organizations in Charlotte, JCSU is already thinking about the future.
"We're trying to recruit students within CMS who may qualify to go through this program for free," Yvette Townsend-Ingram, director of foundation relations at JCSU, explained. "Therefore we're able to give them a leg up on this journey."
Contact Colin Mayfield at cmayfield@wcnc.com or follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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