WEBVTT

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If could turn back the clock
and bring Shalon back,

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I would literally do anything.

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I would happily give everything

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if I could see her smiling
face once again.

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But sadly, even if Shalon were here,

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it would not change the fact

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that between 700 to 800 women
die each year in America

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from pregnancy- and
childbirth-related complications.

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The choice to have a child
should never equate to a death sentence.

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The rate of maternal deaths in America
is utterly appalling.

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In 2017, NPR and ProPublica reported

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that the United States has the highest
rate of maternal mortality

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of any developed country in the world.

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And the United States is the only country
where that rate is steadily rising.

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Black mothers like Shalon
remain the primary group

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for maternal mortality.

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It is truly reprehensible

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that Black women die

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at a rate of three to four times
that of white women.

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It is absolutely shameful

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that 60 percent of those deaths
are totally preventable,

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as was my daughter's.

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And here's a shocking fact:

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according to the report by Health
Resources and Services Administration,

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the difference in risk
has been steadily unchanged

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for the past six decades.

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Six decades.

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Clearly, current efforts to address
maternal mortality rates

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and the racial and health
disparities in that area

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remain woefully inadequate.

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Only when race stops being the precursor

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to how Black women are treated
or not treated in the health care system,

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then outcomes will be
drastically different.

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I want to be abundantly clear now.

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The medical community is failing
Black mothers in America.

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For decades,

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Black women have been
dismissed, ignored, disregarded,

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or at the very least,

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they have been not taken seriously

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in their interactions
with the health care system.

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It's not uncommon for Black women
to experience racism and discrimination

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by medical providers.

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That racism can be blatantly overt
or covertly subtle,

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but make no mistake -- it is there.

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It didn't matter that Shalon
had a dual PhD

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in Sociology and Gerontology;

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it didn't even matter that Shalon
had two master's degrees,

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one of them a Master's in Public Health
from Johns Hopkins.

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It made no difference that Shalon
was a lieutenant commander

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in the US Public Health Service,

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an alumnus of the world-renowned
Epidemic Intelligence Service,

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a highly respected epidemiologist
at the Centers for Disease Control

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and president
of her own diversity company.

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She was still a Black woman.

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A Black woman accessing a system
that saw her as a stereotype

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and responded to her as such.

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During the three weeks
after her child was born,

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Shalon went to her health care providers
again and again in distress.

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Obviously, with her education
and training,

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she could and she did articulate
her concerns very clearly.

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Yet her cries for help
were minimized and dismissed

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by the covert bias
of her medical provider.

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That very bias,
fueled by structural racism,

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is the root cause
of disparities in health care.

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That very bias impacted Shalon's outcome.

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That very bias

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caused my daughter
to be among the statistics

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for 2017.

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As a result, I lost
my beautiful little girl.

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My baby girl.

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I lost my confidant,

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I lost my best friend,

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I lost my whole world.

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Shalon's daughter lost her mother

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and all of the relationship possibilities

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that could have existed
between the two of them.

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The society may have suffered
the greater loss.

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Who knows how many medical advancements

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or social-justice contributions
Shalon may have made

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if only her medical provider
had listened to her

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and heeded her cries for help.

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We will never know.

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But this much, we do know.

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Behind every one
of those 700 to 800 women who die

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is a family

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and a whole social network of loved ones,

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including the children
left behind, like Soleil.

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Shalon's daughter Soleil
is three years old now.

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She has a quick smile --

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every bit as brilliant
as her mother's was.

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Soleil is fearless.

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She's determined and she's so opinionated,

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(Laughter)

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so smart.

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Soleil constantly amazes me

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at how confidently
she is navigating her world.

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But Soleil only knows her mother
through photographs

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and the cherished memories that I have
and share with her every day.

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Yet Soleil loves her mommy,

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who was with her
for only three short weeks.

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She tells me so each day.

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My heart aches each time
Soleil cries for her mommy.

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It is during those times
Soleil has said to me,

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"Nana, I want to go to heaven,
so I can be with my mommy."

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It should not be that way.

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It doesn't have to be that way.

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It can really no longer
continue to be that way.

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When I said earlier that the medical
community is failing Black mothers,

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some may have wondered
if I'm painting with too broad a brush.

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After all, it's individuals
who are to blame here, right?

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Or perhaps we should say
that a relative handful of hospitals,

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which happen to be the ones
that are largely used by Black women

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and other minorities,

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are at the epicenter of maternal
mortality in America.

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But I would argue that focusing
on a handful of individuals

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or a handful of hospitals

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is defining the problem way too narrowly.

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The problem behavior
isn't about the actions

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of specific individuals or hospitals --

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it's much more systemic than that.

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What's more,

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the prevalence of the problem
is deeply entrenched --

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embedded in the very foundation
of our health care system.

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It is this broad-based failure
that continues to allow disparities

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in maternal health and death,

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which result in Black women,
just like Shalon,

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dying at rates 300 percent higher
than white women.

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It's been well documented,

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year after year,

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decade after decade,

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generation after generation,

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and nothing effective
has been done to fix it.

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How do we fix it?

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Is there a definitive answer
to eradicating disparities

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in maternal mortality?

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Well, improvements
in data accuracy are critical

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but not nearly enough.

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Algorithms, checklists, apps --

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they all play an important role,

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but they're no panacea either.

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And I really can't emphasize enough

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that implicit bias training
without explicit,

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explicit measures of accountability

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will make absolutely no difference at all.

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It is time --

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it is long past time

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that leaders in the medical community
take steps to transform

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the health care system status quo.

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The first step must be acknowledging

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that the inherent problem
in the health care system

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is more than a problem;

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it's a failure.

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The next step requires
taking responsibility

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and owning that failure.

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But the most important step

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is actively taking the necessary actions

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to right the wrongs
created by that failure.

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A wise woman once told me,

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"If you want something different,

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you have to do something different."

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My daughter was committed
to doing something different.

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Shalon was known
as a woman of great integrity

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and high moral values.

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When asked about her driving
principles in life,

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she would respond,

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"I see inequity wherever it exists.

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I'm not afraid to call it by name,

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and I work hard to eliminate it.

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I vow to create a better earth."

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Shalon put those words into action
every day of her life.

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Former Surgeon General
David Satcher once said,

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"Leaders must care enough,

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leaders must know enough,

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leaders must be willing to do enough

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and leaders must be willing
to persist until the work is done."

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Shalon was such a leader.

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Though there will never be
another leader like Shalon,

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we can each persist
until the work is done.

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Here's what I'm doing to persist

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until the work to save
Black mothers is done.

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To get things started,

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I joined forces with several
of Shalon's friends

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and CDC colleagues.

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We founded a nonprofit.

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We're working hard to eliminate
preventable deaths among Black mothers.

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And here's how we're doing it:

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with action, action and more action.

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We're engaging stakeholders

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at every point of the public health
and health care spectrum.

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We're actively working
with the legislative office.

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We're promoting accountability
measures and postpartum bills,

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and we want them enshrined in the law.

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We're embarking upon
a community-based research project

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which will redefine quality
of medical care for Black women.

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Ultimately, we will tilt more power
into the hands of Black women.

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How are we going to do that?

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By empowering Black women
and their birthing partners

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to effectively counteract the bias
and racism they experience

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at any given point during pregnancy,
childbirth and postpartum.

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Look around you.

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Each one of us in this room
has a circle of influence.

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I invite you to consider
how powerful an impact we could make

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if we focused that collective
influence on this problem,

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on making a difference.

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What if we, like Shalon,
acknowledged inequity

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wherever it existed in our communities

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and we weren't afraid to call it by name?

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What if we were each committed
and passionate

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about using the full range
of our resources

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to eliminate that inequity?

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Could we change things?

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Could we really overturn
centuries of prejudice

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and decades of bad practice?

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I know we could.

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I know we could,

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if we were focused on that issue,

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if we focused that collective energy.

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To quote Nelson Mandela,

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"When people are determined

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they can overcome anything."

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But "action without vision --

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it's only passing time.

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Vision without action
is merely daydreaming.

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But vision with action
can truly change the world."

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Shalon's life was the perfect
embodiment of the vision.

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Shalon's death is our call to action.

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So today, let each of us vow
to do whatever we can.

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Let us vow to right this wrong.

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Let us vow to be a part of the solution

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until Black women are no longer
marginalized and dying needlessly

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in the health care system.

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And like my daughter,

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(Voice breaking)
Dr. Shalon MauRene Irving,

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let us each vow to create a better earth.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)