• COVID-19 Resources
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Promotions
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • May 8, 2025

Milwaukee Courier Weekly Newspaper

"THE NEWSPAPER YOU CAN TRUST SINCE 1964"

  • News
  • Editorials
  • Education
  • Urban Business
  • Health
  • Religion
  • Upcoming Events
  • Classifieds

Share:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

‘The Worst Maternal Mortality Rate in the Developed World’ American Heart Association Discusses Heart Health in Moms

May 15, 2021

By Ana Martinez-Ortiz

When a woman gets pregnant, her priority is usually the baby, but her health matters too. According to the American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in new moms. It is a tragic fact, that the organization is hoping to change.

Earlier this week, the American Heart Association hosted a discussion titled “Heart Health for Moms and Every Woman.” The event was part of the organization’s EmPOWERED Women’s Roundtable series.

Pamela Johnson is national vice president of Health Equity and Partnerships and the national executive director for the National Hypertension Control Initiative for the American Heart Association.

She explained that the group’s roundtable discussion began earlier this year as a way to shed light on the health issues that effect women of color. The group has discussed mental health, the opioid epidemic and more. In honor of National Women’s Health Week, the organization chose to focus maternal health.

“The United States has the worst maternal mortality rates in the developed world,” said Nancy Brown, the CEO of the American Heart Association. “Over 700 new moms lose their life every single year.”

Black, Native American and Alaskan Native women are disproportionally impacted by this statistic, Brown said. These women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy related complications, she said.

Candi Castleberry Singleton, the vice president of Diversity Partnership Strategy and Engagement of Twitter, moderated the conversation.

“I imagine that sometimes during pregnancy you have an age where you probably not thinking much about heart health,” she said. “And I think sometimes that can be one of the challenges that you don’t connect the two.”

“It’s really important for us to not overly contribute symptoms to pregnancy,” said Dr. Juliet Nevins.

Someone may experience shortness of breath due to the physiological changes or changes in the anatomy, but people should be careful not to attribute all changes to pregnancy.

Heart palpitations and shortness of breath could be an indication of something else and should be reported to providers.

Why do women in communities of color continue to bare the burden of maternal mortality, Castleberry Singleton asked the panelists.

Dr. Rachel Bond said that the social determinants play a role in the inequity in health care. Where someone was raised or where someone lives determines the access someone has to quality health care and continuous health care. Racism more than race and ethnicity have been the core figure in determining those social factors.

“The social and economic injustices definitely put Black and brown women on a trajectory that is disparate than that of their white counterparts,” Nevins said. “The argument becomes circuitous. We enter pregnancy with more chronic disease burden but those chronic disease burdens are being caused by our ZIP code in terms of diet, exercise, air, access to health care in terms of literally distant and lack of transportation for example.”

Eleni Tsigas, the executive director of the Preeclampsia Foundation, talked about the dangers of cy condition that is often indicated by high blood pressure.

“The symptoms may or may not be bad or they may not be indicators of something bad,” Tsigas said.

Symptoms include headaches, visual disturbances, excessive swelling in the upper extremities, feeling nauseous late in pregnancy or gaining weight quickly. None of these alone would raise alarms, but it’s enough that women should report it, she said.

The group also talked about what it will take to get equitable health care, addressing systemic and racist barriers, understanding health literacy and what it means to advocate for yourself and others.

“Just do one thing, don’t try to do 10 just do one,” Johnson said. “Whether it’s walking, making a healthier choice when it comes to food or if its meditating or focusing on yourself and taking that mental health day, just take that one small step and that leads to many others.”

For more information visit goredforwomen.org. The full roundtable discussion can be viewed on the American Heart Association YouTube page

Share:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Popular Interests In This Article: American Heart Association, Ana Martinez-Ortiz, Maternal Health, Preeclampsia

Read More - Related Articles

  • Wisconsin Senate Passes Bill to Extend Medicaid Coverage for New Mothers
  • New Blood Pressure Screen Hub at McGovern Park Senior Center
  • Milwaukee County and AHA Announce Senior Centers Will now Have Blood Pressure Screen-and-Refer Hubs
  • Changing the Course: Empowering Black Communities to Save Lives with CPR
  • National Wear Red Day Raises Awareness About Women’s Health
Become Our Fan On Facebook
Find Us On Facebook


Follow Us On X
Follow Us On X

Editorials

Lakeshia Myers
Michelle Bryant
Dr. Kweku Akyirefi Amoasi formerly known as Dr. Ramel Smith

Journalists

Karen Stokes

Topics

Health Care & Wellness
Climate Change
Upcoming Events
Obituaries
Milwaukee NAACP

Politicians

David Crowley
Cavalier Johnson
Marcelia Nicholson
Governor Tony Evers
President Joe Biden
Vice President Kamala Harris
Former President Barack Obama
Gwen Moore
Milele A. Coggs
Spencer Coggs

Classifieds

Job Openings
Bid Requests
Req Proposals
Req Quotations
Apts For Rent

Contact Us

Milwaukee Courier
2003 W. Capitol Dr.
Milwaukee, WI 53206
Ph: 414.449.4860
Fax: 414.906.5383

Copyright © 2025 · Courier Communications | View Privacy Policy | Site built and maintained by Farrell Marketing Technology LLC
We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.