CINCINNATI — A parent support group trying to keep babies alive and end racial disparities is now taking on a new effort to help right at birth.
Nikita Anderson has five kids. Her youngest baby was born eight months ago at home.
“I decided to have a home birth because of everything I had experienced,” said Anderson.
She said her other four kids were all born in different hospitals because of what happened.
“My first experience was horrible,” said Anderson. “The nurse was like ‘Oh, they didn’t tell you? We’re going to induce you. We’re taking you to labor and delivery,’ I’m like, ‘no, no one told me. I was sleep,’” said Anderson.
She said she was forcefully induced in one hospital and belittled in another.
“Having nurses or other people in the room outside of the doctor who were not culturally competent and saying inappropriate things and asking inappropriate questions,” said Anderson.
It’s something she said could’ve been avoided if she had the right information.
“If I could see those numbers and compare, maybe I wouldn’t have chosen the hospital I chose,” said Anderson.
It’s the reason, Cradle Cincinnati, a support group on a mission to end racial disparities in infant mortality, is coming out with new data.
“We’re looking at everything from c-sections to personal experience, so how did doctors come in and do what they were expected to do, and what you expected them to do?” said Dr. Meredith Shockley-Smith, Cradle Cincinnati’s Equity and Community Strategies director.
She said the hospitals providing the data will be “Mama Certified”
“Mama Certified is a certification program that every hospital in Cincinnati and across the river at St. Elizabeth’s has said yes to turning the equity strategies that they have in their hospitals, all of that information over to mom, so she can make a decision about where she wants to give birth,” said Shockley-Smith.
The first report is expected to come out this spring.
Anderson said she’s not expecting any more kids, but she’s convinced the program will help, and she plans to help for the next mom.
“Being a part of a group like this and making sure you have support can really go a long way,” said Anderson.
