By Voice & Viewpoint Staff
On Wednesday, September 4th, 2024 Dr. Akilah Weber and her team hosted a luncheon at the Southeastern Live Well Center from 12-2 pm on the topic of Postpartum Wellness for Black Mothers.
Kimberly Folkes-Dunkley opened with testimony from her experiences giving birth at traditional and military hospitals. “I pleaded with the nurses, desperate to explain what I was feeling, but my words fell on deaf ears. I was silenced. Oftentimes, I was ignored, and I was left to wait in isolation,” Folkes-Dunkley shared.
“Months later after physical healing and with encouragement to try again, I became pregnant once more, but this time the outcome was nearly similar. Even with the decision to seek care at a military hospital, the experience was no less traumatic as [she] grappled with the reality that [she] might never be a mother in the traditional sense”, Folkes-Dunkley added.
Nikki Helms, Licensed Midwife, Monitrice, and Perinatal educator, is the principal midwife behind the San Diego Community Birth Center, which offers a non-traditional birth experience that serves LGBTQIA+ family builders, marginalized BIPOC, immigrants, and asylum seekers.
“Midwifes don’t view birth as a medical event, it’s a natural process. Not everybody needs to have a lot of medical intervention in order to have a lovely non-disturbed vaginal delivery. We pride ourselves on midwifing the entire family, meaning that we expect the toddlers and partners to come to the appointment,” shares Helms.
Iris Payne, Program Director for the San Diego County Black Infant Health Program (BIH), and Courtney Christian, Deputy Vice President of Policy and Research at Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) are well aware of the health disparities in their profession and spoke on investing in communities of color ensuring that all people have the right to and access to quality health care and personal wellness. They also provided additional resources for black mothers attending the event.
After a $10,000 grant was given to Nikki Helms to continue all the important work she does at the San Diego Community Birth Center, and a panel discussion with questions given from the audience, Dr. Weber gave her closing marks.
“We talk a lot about having healthy mothers, creating environments where they can produce healthy babies, have healthy deliveries, and healthy outcomes, but because of racism, because of social determinants in health, creating healthy individuals does not start once they become pregnant.”
