BY MEAGHAN MCGOLDRICK
In New York City, Black
women are eight times more
likely than white women to
die due to pregnancy complications,
according to a new report
released Thursday by the
public advocate’s offi ce.
“This report details the
causes of maternal morbidity,
the deep disparities in who receives
adequate care and who
faces greatest pain and tragedy,”
said Public Advocate
Jumaane Williams, whose report,
“Equitable Pregnancy
Outcomes for Black and Brown
New Yorkers,” details disparities
that contribute to the maternal
morbidity on both the
local and national level.
“When I fi rst began working
on issues of Black and Brown
maternal health, and on these
bills, I had no idea how personally
it would affect my family
— but I knew, I had met and
spoken with, the families of
so many who had experienced
inequity and tragic loss,” said
Williams, who, earlier this
week, shared in an exclusive
interview with PIX11 that he
and his wife, India Sneed, have
had a tumultuous journey to
pregnancy themselves.
“This report details the
causes of maternal morbidity,
the deep disparities in who receives
adequate care and who
faces greatest pain and tragedy,”
Williams said Thursday.
“It tells the stories behind the
statistics, and highlights solutions
that can save lives. It is
critical, it is urgent, that we
pass these bills in the City
Council, and continue the
work on a state and federal
level, to help promote health
and prevent tragedy from pre
to post-pregnancy.”
The report recommends
that the City Council pass a
slate of maternal health bills
introduced by the public advocate,
which would establish a maternal
and require employers to hold
an onboarding meeting to discuss
after parental leave.
passage of the Black Maternal
Health Momnibus Act, legislation
larger Build Back Better package
investments to promote maternal
at Brownsville’s Brookdale
Hospital, Senate Majority
Leader Chuck Schumer also
called for its passage, as well
as the expansion of Medicaid
for mothers to include yearlong
doula and midwife services.
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The report also urges the
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At a Nov. 11 press conference
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US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer joined colleagues and healthcare
advocates in calling for the passage of the Momnibus Act at a Nov.
11 press conference at Brookdale Hospital. Chuck Schumer’s offi ce
get enough focus, enough attention
or enough dollars,”
Schumer said, standing alongside
Brooklyn Rep. Yvette
Clarke, Assemblymembers Latrice
Walker and Stefani Zinerman,
members of the Olori
Sisterhood and other Black
women leading the charge for
equitable healthcare.
“It’s not COVID-19 we’re
talking about,” he said.
“We’re talking about a crisis
that’s been going on decades
and decades longer, and that is
the maternal health crisis.”
The senate majority leader
stressed Thursday that the
maternal health crisis is
“only further exasperated for
expectant women of color in
New York,” where women are
nearly three times more likely
to experience severe maternal
morbidity than white women.
“This legislation must —
must, must must — be included
in the House bill and passed
through the senate reconciliation
process,” said Clarke, who
represents parts of Central and
South Brooklyn, and co-chairs
the Congressional Caucus on
Black Women and Girls. “The
only other option is failure to
support women.”
Health
Pols call for passage
of ‘Momnibus Act’
One Brooklyn Health offers
COVID antibody treatment
BY NELSON A. KING
One Brooklyn Health (OBH) is offering
antibody treatment to help reduce
the chance of hospitalization and
death from the COVID-19 virus.
Dr. Patrick T. Lee, chair of Medicine
at One Brooklyn Health — which
encompasses Kingsbrook, Interfaith
and Brookdale hospitals in Brooklyn
— told Brooklyn Paper’s sister publication
Caribbean Life, in an exclusive interview
on Monday, that Monocloponal
Antibody Therapy is a “potentially
life-saving treatment that reduces the
risk of hospitalization and death from
COVID for high-risk patients, ideally
within the fi rst few days after symptoms
develop and before they get ill.
“It’s shown to be effective when
given early,” said Dr. Lee, stating that
the fi rst evidence of the effectiveness
of the treatment was in January, when
a “defi nitive study” was done by the
New England Journal of Medicine,
“which shows it highly reduces death.
“It’s a synthetic antibody,” he
added. “The vaccine helps to develop
antibody.”
Dr. Lee said this therapy was available
in Brookdale Emergency Room,
and that not many people were getting
it. Dr. Lee said patients are very happy
with antibody treatment, adding that
“it’s a very popular treatment, and patient
outcome is very good.
“Dozens of patients have been
treated in this fashion,” he said. “If
they didn’t get the infusion, some of
those patients will get sicker.”
The chair of Medicine said Monoclonal
Antibody Treatment is available to
individuals who are confi rmed COVID
positive; high risk for progression to
COVID; and symptomatic but not seriously
ill, that is, not sick enough to be
hospitalized or require increased oxygen
support.
In addition, he said the treatment
is available as a preventive treatment
to individuals who are not fully vaccinated
and exposed to someone with
COVID; or are fully vaccinated but
have a weakened immune system from
a disease or medications they are taking
and are exposed to someone with
COVID.
Dr. Lee said high risk categories include:
65 years or older; obesity (body
mass index – BMI >25); pregnancy; diabetes,
chronic heart, kidney or lung
disease; weakened immune system
from disease or medications; smoking
(current or former); and active substance
use.