BK Maternal Health Expo Signals Much-Needed Progress, BK Moms Say

Mothers and daughters packed Brooklyn Borough Hall on Saturday, July 15, for a maternal health expo that had Brooklyn moms reflecting on how little information was available when they gave birth in the borough several decades ago.

The expo was Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso's latest move in his goal to make Brooklyn the safest borough in the city to give birth within four years. 

Reynoso has put his money where his mouth is by allocating his entire $45 million FY23 capital budget to Brooklyn’s three public hospitals for maternal healthcare improvements and assembling a maternal health taskforce.

It marks the first time a borough president has ever allocated an entire fiscal year’s capital funding to one cause, and within one city organization, his office said.

Co-Chair of the BP's Maternal Health Taskforce, NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull Director of Midwifery Services Helena Grant, said the investment was "profound." 

"A lot of elected officials will give some. He gave it all," Grant said.

At the event, attendees were invited into the grand atrium of the government building, where stalls bustled with free information, giveaways and tutorials on pregnancy, birth and post-birth care.

The day also featured free workshops on prenatal nutrition, paid parental leave, health insurance, breastfeeding and safe sleep. In the upstairs rooms of the building, mats were laid out for "Mommy and Me Yoga" and a later belly dancing class.

At least 120 people attended to take advantage of the free programming and resources. In an introductory speech, Reynoso said improving maternal health in Brooklyn is crucial, adding that he started learning about the issue during his wife's pregnancies. 

Black women are 9.4 times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications than their white counterparts, while one-third of all pregnancy-related deaths in NYC happen in Brooklyn, Reynoso told the crowd.

"It's completely criminal," he said.

Those statistics were even more stark for Haitian women, Reynoso said. He said his office ensured marketing for the event was translated into multiple languages, including Haitian Creole. At the event, there were translators on hand.

He invited Brooklyn Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the daughter of Haitian immigrants and a fellow champion for maternal health improvements, to the lectern.

Holding her baby son, she told attendants how she was "part of the statistics of the maternal health crisis." Her first son, Jonah Bichotte Cowan, died in 2016 after she was turned away from a hospital in a high-risk situation.

In an interview with BK Reader, the borough president said improving maternal health in the borough felt like rerouting a tanker. He said some health centers needed to hire and train midwives from scratch and get new facilities.

Over the next few years, Reynoso hopes to see preventable maternal mortality and morbidity decrease in Brooklyn.

"The ultimate goal is to have one year when no one dies," he said of his capital investment. "This is deeply personal for me. Why everyone in the city doesn't stand up and activate themselves as a fighter for maternal health is beyond me."

Events like the expo were significant and sorely needed for improving maternal health outcomes in the borough, attendees told BK Reader. 

Karina Tirado and her mother Magda Cuji were at the expo together to get information ahead of Tirado's Oct. 12 due date. 

"Thank God for this program," Cuji told BK Reader. When she gave birth to her children in the 90s — two of whom were more than a month premature — she said she was completely unprepared for what was happening, was not informed about C-section births and didn't know how to care for her mental health postpartum. 

"Things have come a long way," she said. "That's why I tell her to get all the resources she can." 

Mother-daughter duo Stacy Morris-Shloss and Zaria Richards were also at the event together. 

"They didn't have anything like this in '97,"  Morris-Shloss said, referring to the year she had Richards. "We've come a long way. And I love it."

She said she was excited about the doula services and mental health services the expo made readily available to new moms.

"I hope they do more, as we really need it. Unfortunately, a lot of times in our neighborhood, postpartum [depression] really affects people." 

Margarette Tropnas was at the expo as a volunteer. She said, as the mother of two young women and having had a miscarriage herself, she knew how needed the maternal health resources were.

"This is a big issue where many women have suffered," she said. "This is an opportunity for them to get the care they need."